Strikers refuse medical care, three in serious conditions

Because of this situation, the strikers have decided to refuse any medical help. The head of the political prisoners, Skender Tufa, appealed the civil society and the human right groups for support.

The strike started three Saturdays ago and was accompanied by very shocking events, with two of the strikers setting themselves on fire and a third was stopped soaked in petrol, right before he committed the act. The government has refused to have any negotiation.

The Shkoder former political prisoners in protest

The former political prisoners in Shkoder have supported the hunger strike that is being held in Tirana.

They gathered in the city centre and read a supportive message for the strikers in Tirana. Shkoder was the more anticommunist city during the dictatorship, and their political prisoners declare today that the strike is not political, but with righteous economic requests.

Shkoder has the biggest number of political prisoners. 15.000 families were persecuted, 3000 were interned, 2846 people were imprisoned and 601 were executed.

The Shkoder Political Persecuted People Association say that they will soon organize a massive protest for supporting their rights.

Strike of death is declared

Despite the negotiations with the president in presence of the international community, tension rose at the hunger strike.

Strikers say that they have been mistreated by the police, even physically, and the latter have removed all their beverages, leaving only water.

They asked the Ombudsman to intervene and declared that if the police will continue with the violence and their measures, they will start the strike of death.

“The Ombudsman must come and see what the police are doing. They have removed everything from us. With this behaviour, we will declare the strike of death. We will remove even water and will die here”, one of the strikers declared.

The strikers say that they have not been allowed to meet their family members. After the incident, the striker organizers were not allowed to meet the strikers. They appealed the US Embassy for help, from which they say they have taken support for calming the situation.

“The US Embassy representatives, our last remaining friends, declared their support after the incidents that took place”, declared the strike coordinator, Skender Tufa.

After the meeting at the US Embassy, the organizers were not allowed to enter the hunger strike premises. The representative of the New Democratic Spirit, Aleksander Biberaj, was also not allowed to meet the strikers.

“It’s their decision to not allow us, but this is a hate and discrimination between classes that is being installed each day in Albania. We cannot let them die today, 22 years after the fall of the communist regime”, Biberaj declared.

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