Tension at funeral as ethnic-Greek mayor elect’s appearance cut short
Scuffles broke out between mourners and Albanian police at the funeral of the grandmother of Fredi Beleri on Sunday, after the mayor-elect of the ethnic-Greek city of Himare was kept in handcuffs and given just a few minutes to pay his respects.
According to the local news outlet Himara.gr, the tension began when mourners starting applauding and calling out Beleri’s name as he was brought to the cemetery in a police van under very tight security.
It mounted after he was let out of the vehicle for just 10 minutes during the burial while still in handcuffs, with mourners jeering at police officers and getting into scuffles as they tried to reach the mayor-elect before he was put back in the van and whisked back to prison.
Held in custody on vote-tampering charges since the local elections in May, Beleri had been granted a six-hour leave to attend the funeral and the wake at his grandmother’s house after the service.
