Interior Minister Ervin Demo and the Director General of the State Police, Skënder Hita, appeared together at a press conference to take stock of the protests of recent weeks, but gave two different messages about violence and responsibilities. While the minister acknowledged a worrying balance of injured citizens and confirmed the suspension of seven police officers, the director focused on the violence of the protesters and the identification of 52 suspects.
The first difference relates to responsibility for the violence. Demo stated that 347 people have been injured in recent weeks, including 107 protesters and 39 bystanders, including journalists. He called the figures a wake-up call for the level of violence and the proportional handling of the situation by the State Police.
The minister even confirmed that seven police officers have been suspended and are under investigation, while the Police Supervision Agency is reviewing dozens of cases referred by citizens.
On the other hand, Skënder Hita did not stop at the cases of suspended police officers or investigations into the actions of officers. He announced that 52 people suspected of involvement in violent acts have been identified, the materials for which have been forwarded to the Prosecutor's Office.
The second difference is related to the proportionality of police interventions. The Minister spoke about the need for proportional treatment of protests and disciplinary and investigative measures against police officers, while the Director was content to guarantee that the Police will apply the principle of proportionality to persons who exercise violence and violate public or private property.
On the one hand, the minister admits that police actions are the subject of investigations. On the other hand, the director speaks of proportionality as an obligation that the institution will fulfill, without referring to the specific cases that are being investigated.
The third difference is the attitude towards journalists. Demo included media workers among the bystanders injured during the protests. Hita, meanwhile, described the media as important partners of the Police and called for strengthening coordination on the ground to guarantee the safety of journalists, cameramen and photojournalists.
But the director's statement lacked an explanation for the cases of injured journalists and the possible responsibility of police officers.
Even for the involvement of minors, the two leaders used different approaches. The Minister announced that 269 people under the age of 18 were accompanied during the protests, demanding an inter-institutional response to this phenomenon. The Police Director appealed to parents not to allow the involvement of children in violent situations.
At the end of the same conference, the public received two balance sheets: seven police officers suspended and under investigation on the one hand, 52 people suspected of violence on the other. But the question of who is responsible for the 107 protesters and 39 injured bystanders, including journalists, remained unanswered.
Because counting the injured is a statistic. Determining who injured them and whether the force used was lawful is the responsibility of the institutions that came together today to talk about the safety of citizens.
