ALBANIA/ITALY: 850 ALBANIAN REFUGEES DETAINED BY ITALIAN OFFICIALS/ REGULAR POLICE PATROLS RESUME IN SOUTHERN ALBANIA.

Record ID: 275082

  • Title: ALBANIA/ITALY: 850 ALBANIAN REFUGEES DETAINED BY ITALIAN OFFICIALS/ REGULAR POLICE PATROLS RESUME IN SOUTHERN ALBANIA.
  • Date: 15th March 1997
  • Summary: VLORE, ALBANIA (MARCH 15, 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: UNIFORMED POLICE AT THE BORDER CHECKING CARS 0.12 2. MV: POLICEMAN WAVING CAR THROUGH 0.23 3. MCU: UNIDENTIFIED POLICEMAN SAYING THEY WORKED FOR THEMSELVES AND NOT (ALBANIAN) PRESIDENT BERISHA. IT IS THE FIRST TIME IN TEN DAYS THAT HE AND HIS COLLEAGUES HAD BEEN ON T
  • Embargoed: 30th March 1997 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: VLORE, ALBANIA / BRINDISI, ITALY
  • City:
  • Country: EUROPE Italy Albania
  • Reuters ID: LVA549RZ7SXB2PF2YDKHX37FX90J
  • Story Text: INTRO: Southern Albania appeared to be returning to a semblance of normality on Saturday as regular uniformed police took to the streets for the first time in almost two weeks, working in apparent accord with rebels controlling the region.

    And at least 850 Albanians were detained by Italian officials after the old navy boat they had fled on ran aground off the Italian port of Brindisi.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------- Near the southern Albanian port of Vlore, regular uniformed police were manning checkpoints, stopping cars and searching vehicles on Saturday (March 15). One policeman said that they worked for themselves and not President Sali Berisha, adding that this was the first time in ten days that he and his colleagues had been on the streets of Vlore.

    The police appeared to be working in concert with the rebels to try to establish some kind of order.

    In Vlore itself police even arrived to investigate looting and vandalism at the local museum.

    Down the road from the police checkpoints, rebels manned their own roadblocks, searching vehicles, firing guns in the air and roaming the streets in armoured vehicles.

    Many Albanians have chosen to try to flee the chaos in their country by any means possible. At a dock near Vlore, people crowded around old rusting ships in the hope they might be able to board and sail away.

    Another 850 Albanians who managed to make it on to an ancient Albanian navy ship were detained by Italian police after the ship grounded off the southern Italian port of Brindisi late on Saturday night.

    Many on board the ship's crowded deck waved white flags as they waited to be rescued. An Italian helicopter used a searchlight to scan the sea in case any one had jumped into the water.

    A coastguard officer said some on the ship, which had mechanical failure and ran aground several hundred metres off the shore as it was being led into port, were injured.

    Some of the Albanians tried to avoid detention by climbing over a harbour gate. But Italian police quickly moved in and caught them.


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