Albania – National Guard starts investigating ink-spraying incident in Parliament

Tirana, Albania | 15 Feb 2019 (Tirana Echo) – Albanian National Guard has started investigating on the type of ink sprayed on the Prime Minister by opposition MPs, following reports the ink may have been a chemical substance intended to harm the PM.

What was intended to be a largely ceremonial plenary to unanimously vote on North Macedonia’s NATO accession, degenerated into a violent session where Democratic Party vice chairman Edi Paloka sprayed what appeared to be blue ink on the face of Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Following a greeting speech by opposition DP chairman Lulzim Basha which he used to call on people to join the planned protest for Saturday in order to “topple the government derived from crime”, PM Rama addressed a note of apology to Macedonian Speaker of Parliament Talat Xhaferri who had been invited as guest of honor during the celebratory plenary.

As PM Rama was apologizing to Speaker Xhaferri, DP vice chair Edi Paloka walked towards the government front row spraying ink on the face of PM Rama through a syringe hidden in his pocket.

Although Paloka was expelled from the plenary, former DP chair and PM Sali Berisha told journalists the ink was ejected from Paloka’s personal ink pen, calling his actions justifiable and a well-deserved retaliatory action to PM Rama’s offensive comments.

Adding to Berisha’s comments, Socialist Movement for Integration chairwoman Monika Kryemadhi said Rama was a “Street bully suffering from mental deficiencies.”.

Following the incident, the Democratic Party said through an official statement that Paloka’s action was in retaliation to PM Rama’s previous offensive teasing used against Paloka’s apparent lisp speech deficiency.

During a statement for the media, the National Guard said it had suspected the ink used by Paloka may in fact have been a chemical substance, intended to endanger the prime minister. They also confirmed the incident had been referred to prosecutors for penal investigation.

The Democratic Party and its opposition allies have warned that the massive protest planned for tomorrow will be intended to topple the socialist government of Edi Rama and that a new ‘technical’ government should be formed ahead of June’s local elections.