Journalists reported being prevented from filming in or around the Assembly called by co-founder, ex-prime minister and president, and persona non-grata in the US, Sali Berisha, in Tirana on Saturday.
The Assembly brought more than 7000 Berisha supporters to the Air Albania Stadium in the centre of the city, to vote on dismissing current Party Chairman Lulzim Basha.
Several journalists, including Ora News Isa Myzyraj said they were not allowed to attend the assembly and were left outside and even made to report from “around the corner from the stadium.”
Myzyraj said they were unable to report in a transparent or independent way. Instead, they had to rely on sources or the official line from Berisha’s spokespeople. He described clashes with guards that were “ordered in so that no journalist, operator, or photographer could enter the stadium where the delegates were”.
Journalists said that such events which are critical to Albanian democracy should be conducted with transparency.
