Tabaku demands Demo and Hitaj report on the protests; Bido: minister will come to the committee

The chair of Parliament's Committee on Human Rights and Public Information Media, Democrat Jorida Tabaku, on Tuesday asked Interior Minister Ervin Demo and State Police Director General Skënder Hitaj to report to the committee on violence against protesters over the past 14 days. On behalf of the opposition, she also named the Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination.

Tabaku said citizens have been protesting for about 150 days, initially against the law on strategic investments, and that students joined the protest with their own actions about two weeks ago.

The opposition's figures

According to data presented by Tabaku, about 1,000 young people have been detained during the protests, 250 of them minors. She also said 47 journalists have been threatened or intimidated, and that police were responsible in 43 of those cases. These figures have not been confirmed by the institutions.

Majority: the minister will report

Socialist lawmaker Ardit Bido replied that the majority group also wants the interior minister to report and that he will appear before the committee. Bido accused the opposition of disrupting the last plenary session and of hiding its own role in the violence, claiming that PD's protesters were militants.

The committee debate comes as political tension over the student protests keeps rising, with the opposition demanding accountability for police actions and the majority calling on PD to distance itself from acts of violence. Minister Demo was also the subject of an urgent interpellation that PD sought at last week's plenary session.