Albania Police Hurt In Motorway Toll Protest

Tirana, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Apr, 2018 ) :Albanian police said Saturday 14 officers were injured in a protest over the introduction of a toll on motorway linking the country with Kosovo.

Several hundred protesters pelted police with stones and destroyed toll booths before setting them alight during the protest near the Morina border crossing. The tolls of beween 2.5 to 22.5 Euros ($3 to $28), to fund road maintenance, were due to come into force on Sunday along the 100-kilometre (60 mile) long highway.

"All those who incited these barbarian acts against police officers and public and private property will be brought to justice," Albanian Interior Minister Fatmir Xhafaj said.

In a separate statement the office of the public prosecutor said it had launched a probe to establish "the criminal responsibility of those who violated the law".

More then 100 Kosovo lorry drivers and hundreds of shopkeepers in the Albanian town of Kukes also protested against the decision on Wednesday at the Kosovo-Albanian border and on the Albanian section of the highway. The drivers decked out their vehicles in banners reading "This road should unite Albanians, not divide them".