Please don’t take our homes! Residents beg with authorities to prevent demolition

Please don’t take our homes! Residents beg with authorities to prevent

The National Territorial Defense Inspectorate (NTDI) attempted to commence action today to demolish a building near the "Petro Nini" High School, however were faced with the residents begging and pleading for their homes not to be destroyed.

The decision for the demolition of the building has turned into a conflict between the residents and the police.

Clashes escalated as residents cried for their houses not to be demolished, while police officers escorted some of them to the station for further questioning.

They have undertaken extreme actions, such as laying down on the street in order to prevent the passage of the NTDI's demolition vehicles.

Local media have reported that based on a court decision, the current residents' are not the legal owners of the land and, as such, the NTDI has the required approvals and permissions in order to demolish the building.

However, residents claim that the ownership documents for the property have been acquired through abuse of power and that they have evidence that they are the rightful owners of the land and have been for the past 75 years.

With documents in hand, the residents explain that they rightfully purchased the physical building from the land-owner, as they awaited the land rights to be finalized by the state.

They claim that the paperwork for the building was issued accurately to them, whilst the land rights which should remain in the state have been passed back to the former owner through a series of court forgeries.

Another interesting point to note is that all the judges whose signatures are preset on the approval for demolition of the building are yet to have passed through the vetting process successfully.

 The residents have inscribed the names of the signatory judges in large letters on the wall of the building, which reads: Hysni Demiraj, Zeqine Sollaku, Elona Stavri.



EMISIONET