Albania Tightens Security Ahead Of Soccer Match Against Serbia

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By Fatjona Mejdini and Igor Jovanovic

Albania is deploying hundreds of extra police ahead of Thursday’s football match with Serbia, to ensure there is no repeat of what happened when the two sides met in Serbia last year.

Albanian police spokesman Gentian Mullai told BIRN on Monday that tough measures are planned to secure a potentially high-risk football match between Albania and Serbia in Elbasan on Thursday.

Mullai said 1,500 state police will be deployed alongside 400 private security officers contracted by the Albanian Football Association. Another 100 additional officers will come from the Albanian National Guard.

“These forces will cover every aspect of the security required for this match and more can be added if we will need to,” the spokesperson told BIRN.

Tension is high ahead of the match following a disastrous first encounter between the two teams in Belgrade last October, which ended up in a brawl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nhf201D4OQ

After a small drone with a banner embossed with Albanian motifs flew over the pitch in Belgrade, Serbian fans invaded the pitch and also threw torches and lighters at the Albanian players as they left the field. Several Albanian players were struck by the hooligans who had invaded the pitch.

Fearing intrusion from outside the pitch, Albanian police have told locals living around the Elbasan Arena not to allow any unknown people in their homes while the match is on.

They have also been required to close the rooftops of their buildings and keep hold of their identification documents in case police ask for them.

Albanian political and sporting chiefs have been appealing to football fans to keep calm and not create incidents during the match.

Albania’s team has a good chance of qualifying for the 2016 UEFA European Championship, so the match with Serbia could be decisive for purely sporting reasons, too.

Prime Minister Edi Rama wrote on Facebook that while the match is important for this reason, it is equally important for Albanians to show they know how to respect a rival team.

“We have to prove that we are different, that we know to strongly support our team and at the same time respect our rivals on our football pitch,” he said, calling on fans to show respect also when the Serbian national anthem is played.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic at the weekend said he had made no final decision on whether to attend the game in Albania, although Rama has invited him to Elbasan.

Vucic told reporters he was not concerned about his safety but had other dilemmas.

“I have agreed with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to go there but now I can see he has invited [Kosovo Foreign Minister] Hashim Thaci and some other people too. I do not mind Thaci attending some political meetings, but this…” Vucic said.

Serbia does not recognise Kosovo’s independence and its officials try to avoid public meetings with Kosovo counterparts or with senior Kosovo officials. Thaci’s key role in Kosovo’s war of independence from Serbia makes meetings with him especially senstive.

Milivoj Mirkov, head of safety in the Football Association of Serbia, told BIRN that more police would be guarding the Serbian team than is usual.

“We did a risk analysis and proposed ways to guard the players in Albania. We did an analysis for the hotel, where they will be based, the route towards the stadium, and the game,” Mirkov said.

“However, risk analysis is something which needs to be constantly updated and we will do it before, during and after the game in Albania,” Mirkov added.

Balkan Insight

The Balkan Insight (formerly the Balkin Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN) is a close group of editors and trainers that enables journalists in the region to produce in-depth analytical and investigative journalism on complex political, economic and social themes. BIRN emerged from the Balkan programme of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, IWPR, in 2005. The original IWPR Balkans team was mandated to localise that programme and make it sustainable, in light of changing realities in the region and the maturity of the IWPR intervention. Since then, its work in publishing, media training and public debate activities has become synonymous with quality, reliability and impartiality. A fully-independent and local network, it is now developing as an efficient and self-sustainable regional institution to enhance the capacity for journalism that pushes for public debate on European-oriented political and economic reform.

One thought on “Albania Tightens Security Ahead Of Soccer Match Against Serbia

  • October 6, 2015 at 6:01 pm
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    I have NO RESPECT for Serbian anathema but I will remain silent because I have respect for myself.

    GO GO GO ALBANIA!!!!!!

    Reply

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