Young people beaten with rubber batons / Students’ revolt against Rama, BIRN: Violence against minors raises questions about the police response during protests

At least 204 minors have been arrested or criminally prosecuted during recent protests in Albania, while the People’s Advocate and human rights organizations have documented allegations of police violence, physical injuries and violations of legal safeguards for the protection of children.

In a video published by the media on Monday evening, a group of police officers can be seen rushing at several young people and hitting them with rubber batons.

Amid the blows, one of them can be heard shouting that he is only 13 years old.

BIRN was unable to independently verify the ages of the young people in the video, but similar footage showing the use of force against protesters, including minors, circulated widely in the media and on social networks over the past week.

The footage has raised concerns about how the State Police is treating children and teenagers involved in the wave of protests against the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama.

According to official State Police data, 300 people have been arrested during protests in Tirana and several other districts of the country, including 33 minors. Meanwhile, 559 people have been criminally prosecuted, among them 171 minors.

In total, 204 minors have been arrested or criminally prosecuted, accounting for nearly one-quarter of the 859 people included in these two categories.

However, this figure does not necessarily reflect the full number of minors who were taken to police stations and released without further measures, since criminal prosecution does not in every case require the person to be physically taken to the police.

Nearly half of those arrested are between 18 and 24 years old.

The protests, which began with students and were later joined by high school students, have been fueled by dissatisfaction over corruption, a lack of prospects and the high cost of living. But while the demonstrations have been accompanied by violent clashes and property damage, the police response toward younger participants has highlighted serious concerns about respect for children’s rights.

The authorities justify the use of force as necessary to maintain public order, but testimony from family members and violations documented by human rights organizations raise questions about the proportionality of the interventions and the responsibility of institutions to protect minors.

During Monday’s protest alone, on October 19, the People’s Advocate identified 18 minors who had been taken to police stations, while several of them claimed they had been assaulted by officers.

Ahmet Prençi, commissioner of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture at the People’s Advocate’s Office, said on Tuesday that monitoring of police facilities had identified complaints of physical and verbal violence against detained people, including children.

“At Police Station No. 1, five of the eight detained minors alleged physical and verbal violence by State Police officers,” Prençi said.

“Two of them were found to have signs of physical injury.”

According to him, the institution had also received a complaint about violence against a minor at the Security Block.

The monitoring also identified violations of procedural safeguards. The minors had not been given a form listing their rights, while six of them had been registered in the adult register.

Prençi recalled that the Convention on the Rights of the Child requires humane treatment and respect for the particular needs of people under the age of 18.

“Violence against a minor in police custody is an absolute violation, and those responsible must be held accountable in every case,” he stressed.

However, Interior Minister Ervin Demo defended the actions of the security forces, claiming that the police had “applied the standards and laws in force” during the interventions.

“Police officers do not take into account the age of those throwing Molotov cocktails and other objects at the moment of intervention,” Demo told BIRN in a phone conversation.

He added that the authorities were open to investigating every reported case of abuse by police officers.

Appeal for an investigation into violence against minors

High school students joined the protests started by university students on the second day. Some of them became involved in clashes with police, throwing stones at the security forces, while the latter used tear gas and high-pressure water to disperse the demonstrators.

Footage published during the protests also shows police officers hitting protesters with rubber batons, kicks and punches, including in cases where they were already under the control of the security forces.

Among the detained minors was the 15-year-old son of Anisa Lutaj, while a video showing him being beaten by police was circulated online.

“My son did not commit any act of violence against the police, but they assaulted and beat him for no reason,” Lutaj told BIRN.

According to her, her son spent 72 hours in the security rooms, which he shared with five other minors. The family now faces court proceedings, after police accused the 15-year-old of having Molotov cocktails and a knife in his bag.

“These police officers are so sophisticated in where they get these things from, because my son only had a bag with books and did nothing. This is also evident in the video, as are the testimonies of his friends,” his mother insisted.

Lutaj acknowledged that, due to a lack of information about the procedures she should follow, she had not yet filed a complaint with the institutions over the alleged violence and had not obtained a forensic medical report on her son’s injuries.

“I was shocked and, because I had no experience with these things, I did nothing, as all I could think about was how to get him out of the police station,” she said.

Organizations and opposition call for investigations

Human rights organizations, civil society representatives and the opposition have raised concerns about the disproportionate use of force by the State Police during the protests, particularly against minors.

A report prepared by legal experts from the Democratic Party, documenting reported cases of disproportionate use of force against protesters, including minors, has been sent to international human rights organizations, the diplomatic corps and the European Parliament.

Jorida Tabaku, the chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, said the report aims to inform international institutions about the alleged violations and seek their attention to respect for fundamental rights and accountability in every case of abuse.

The Albanian Helsinki Committee, AHC, has also raised concerns about alleged violence against minors taken into police custody, violations of legal safeguards and shortcomings in their treatment at police stations.

Journalist Zylyftar Bregu, a monitor with the AHC, told BIRN that the organization had received numerous allegations of violence against minors who had been taken into custody or detained, but had documented two cases also supported by forensic medical reports.

“Many minors were taken into custody on the second day of the protest, and two minors who had received medical treatment at the Trauma Hospital were also arrested. One had injuries to his leg and arm caused by police batons, while the other had wounds to his head,” Bregu said.

The AHC has also identified concerns related to the confiscation of phones at the time of detention, making it more difficult for minors to notify their parents or legal guardians; questioning without a psychologist or without the presence of parents; overcrowding in security rooms; and a lack of medical care.

The Center for the Protection of Children’s Rights condemned police violence against minors and called for an independent international investigation into the conduct of the security forces during the protests.

The center’s director, Altin Hazizaj, told BIRN that the use of blank rounds against children was unacceptable.

“There is no democratic state in the world that would use blank rounds against children. This is intolerable,” he said.

“We have called for an independent international investigation into the conduct of the police in Albania,” Hazizaj added.

Representatives of parents’ organizations have also called for legal safeguards to be respected during the detention of minors, particularly raising concerns about the use of violence after protesters have been subdued by police.

“The most disturbing scenes are the abuse of detainees, especially minors, when they have already been subdued,” journalist and activist Ermelinda Hoxhaj of the “Parents for Quality Education” group told BIRN.

According to her, footage published on social networks and television broadcasts shows episodes involving the use of force against protesters, including subdued minors, as well as the use of tear gas in circumstances that, in her view, did not justify the intervention.

Hoxhaj also called for every possible case of children being exploited in protests to be investigated, stressing that parents are responsible for their safety and should accompany them when they take part in demonstrations./BIRN