"They kidnapped us in the middle of the square"/ American denounces: Men in black and with sticks took the young people

 

An American citizen, Philip Gilpin, claims he was stopped for several minutes by a group of unmarked men as he passed by the main square in Tirana. 

In his testimony, he says that he was accompanied by several teenagers, with whom he had started a casual conversation.

According to his account, the incident occurred around 11:00 am, when he was returning to his apartment after meeting with a real estate agent to view some potential office spaces.

"As I was walking through the main square, I passed a group of 5 teenagers who were chatting. I greeted one of them and we started chatting. Hello, how are you, a simple conversation," the American recounts.

He claims that just a few minutes after this contact, the situation suddenly changed, when a group of men approached him running.

"About 3 minutes later, a group of about 10 men without insignia, all dressed in black and carrying sticks, came running towards us and physically grabbed us and arrested us all," the testimony states.

According to Philip Gilpin Jr., the teenagers were escorted while he was held for questioning by two people he described as "officers."

One of them, he said, grabbed his hand, took his phone and started searching it. The other person asked for his identification.

"I told him I was an American from Boston and showed him my American driver's license," he says.

The American claims that the people who stopped him photographed his license plate and also took a photo of himself. After about 10 minutes, during which he says he faced attempts to intimidate him, he was allowed to leave.

"After about 10 minutes of trying to intimidate, they let me go," Gilpin Jr. says.

In his testimony, he adds that the incident was not the only one he had seen that morning. The American claims to have witnessed three other incidents in the same area, where small groups of men were stopping young men.

"It is also worth noting that I witnessed 3 other incidents of small gangs roaming the square taking any young people they could find. All within a 15-minute walking distance," he concludes.

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