Today at 12:00, dozens of Durrës families and other citizens are expected to gather in front of the Durrës Municipality in an open-ended protest against the "TID Durrës" project, which, according to them, is expropriating and destroying properties within the city's historic area.
Residents claim that the project, which affects over 170 family properties within the historic perimeter of the Amphitheater, is being implemented without transparency, without public consultation and in violation of the principles of cultural heritage protection. They demand the immediate suspension of the interventions and the review of the plan in cooperation with the local community and experts in the field.
During the protest, organizers are expected to present facts about the potential damages of the project, collect signatures for a petition against unfair expropriations, and discuss next legal and civic steps.
Meanwhile, activists have previously accused that interventions in the Durrës Amphitheater area have been initiated since the height of the pandemic, in collaboration between the Municipality of Durrës, the Ministry of Culture and the AADF (Albanian-American Development Foundation). These institutions are suspected of having begun preparations for a Detailed Local Plan (PDV), which foresees major urban changes and the demolition of a significant number of homes located above or near the Amphitheater.
According to cultural heritage experts, the preliminary study of the area should have included a complete inventory of monuments, dwellings and historical values, accompanied by public consultations and institutional transparency, but these phases appear to have been overlooked.
The project documents again mention the name of archaeologist Iris Pojani, previously involved in similar projects that have sparked debate, including the case of the “Small Point” in Butrint Park — a project that, according to an EU first-prize winning article by the Amfora.al portal, was carried out in a suspicious manner, hiding archaeological documents and paving the way for construction within a protected area.
The protesters have warned that they will not stop until the project is stopped and their homes are not affected by the interventions that, according to them, risk repeating the "Butrint scandal" in the heart of Durrës.
