Albanian police release 12 Greeks detained in Gjirokaster

Twelve Greeks detained on Thursday by Albanian authorities at a police station in the town of Gjirokaster before the funeral of an ethnic Greek were released early Friday morning, state-run news agency ANA-MPA said.

According to the report, the men were stopped by police after crossing the Greek-Albanian border in Kakavia on their way to the funeral and others at the village of Bularat, where the 35-year-old Konstantinos Katsifas was buried on Thursday.

Albanian police said the twelve men were detained to determine whether they were inciting “racist violence with nationalist slogans.”

The death of Katsifas, a dual Albanian-Greek citizen who was fatally shot in an exchange of fire with Albanian police on October 28, has fuelled tensions between the two countries.

Representatives of the Greek Consulate went to the police station to offer their services.