The Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s government is provoking Greece once again. According to the Albanian Minister of Interior, 52 Greeks have been declared as “persona non grata” after participating to the funeral of Konstantinos Katsifas who was murdered by the Albanian Police Special Forces.

The official reason they gave is that they “challenged the constitutional order, national security and social peace”.

This comes as a follow up to the apprehension of at least 12 Greeks and members of the Greek minority after Katsifas’ funeral. They were held for 7 hours without any explanation and were released late at night as they the Albanian police did not find anything to charge them with.

But the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama did not fail to play his part in the deterioration of the Greek-Albanian relations as he stated that “Albania is not shamed by some boorish people, living like hyenas and singing like crows”, referring to the people who attended Katsifas’ funeral.

The former Prime Minister and President of Albania Sali Berisha also stated that “I strongly condemn the primitive act of exploiting a funeral by extremists”, deepening the rift between the two countries.

Konstantinos Katsifas was murdered by the Albanian Police Special Forces after he had surrendered as Greek coroner who saw his body concluded since the angle the two bullets entered Katsifas’ body indicates that he was not taking cover and he had his hands away from his body, holding them up.

The Albanian authorities in an unprecedented move refused for 10 days to return his body to his family for burial, as they were afraid that the funeral would turn into a demonstration denouncing the Albanian government’s terrorizing tactics and “velvet ethnic cleansing” against the Greek minority of the country.

The funeral was attended by more than 3000 people that indeed demanded from Albania to respect its obligations towards the minority as they derive from the international law and Albania’s own signature according to which it recognizes the rights of the Greeks of Northern Epirus.

After the funeral, the Albanian police apprehended at least 12 people with no apparent reason. Based on the questions they were asked, the police were furious due to the fact that Katsifas’ huge trademark hand-made Greek flag was brought by his friends to the funeral despite their efforts to find it and confiscate it for their own propaganda reasons.