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- For two years, artists and activists in Tirana, Albania, demonstrated to protect the historic National Theatre building from being demolished. Built in 1939, during the early years of Italian rule, Albania's National Theatre worked as a cinema until the end of the Second World War, when a stage replaced the former screen. In 2018, due to the lack of maintenance and investments over the years, the government announced a plan to demolish the National Theatre's building and send the artists into an alternative stage until the new theatre would be built in the same place. In March 2018, Prime Minister Edi Rama revealed Bjarke Ingels's design for the new National Theater, the construction of which would be granted through a special law to a private company. This law was later criticized by the EU as a violation of the Stabilisation and Association Process. The government, in return, claimed it had no money for the project. The artists started a petition, firstly signed by more than 90 artists and started to gather daily at the public square in front of the theatre to protest the demolition. After many citizens joined the protest, it was discovered that the public property where the theatre stands today, would be sold to a private investor, who planned at that time to build high-rise buildings together with a new theatre. The new theater would cover a much smaller part of the now public property. The then Minister of Culture, Mirela Kumbaro, was accused of trying to destroy heritage and demolish the theatre for private interests of investors with close ties with government officials. The Association of Albanian Architects also made a declaration opposing the demolition of the theatre, stressing the historical and aesthetic value of its rationalist architecture. Following student protests, PM Edi Rama decided to reshuffle his cabinet and replaced 8 ministers, including the Minister of Culture Mirela Kumbaro, a decision applauded by the artist's community. As of January 2019, Architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group of Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, has dropped the construction project of the National Theater. The municipality opened a new tender call, but since then it hasn't made any announcement on how the procedure is going or who is applying for it. Regardless of constant protest by Albanian artists together with the political opposition, the demolition of the National Theatre of Albania started approximately on 4:30 am of 17 May 2020. The area was overrun by the State Police as they forcibly evacuated every person in the area protesting and detained many artists and high members of the Albanian opposition. Soon after the demolition started, people started gathering in the main boulevard just before the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Theatre to protest its demolition. This protest led to numerous other detainments due to the prohibition of gatherings and protests as per COVID-19 restrictions by the Government. (en)
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- 13293 (xsd:nonNegativeInteger)
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- The building of the National Theatre in Tirana, built in 1939. (en)
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| dbp:causes
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- Albanian Government's plan to demolish the National Theatre's building (en)
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- 0001-02-08 (xsd:gMonthDay)
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- *Annulation of the government plan
*Restoration of the building
*Better working conditions for artists (en)
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- Collective leadership (en)
- Edi Rama (en)
- Elva Margariti (en)
- Erion Veliaj (en)
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- *Street protests
*Street Occupations
*Online activism (en)
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- 18 (xsd:integer)
- 22 (xsd:integer)
- Albanian artists (en)
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- National Theatre Protest in Albania (en)
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- For two years, artists and activists in Tirana, Albania, demonstrated to protect the historic National Theatre building from being demolished. Built in 1939, during the early years of Italian rule, Albania's National Theatre worked as a cinema until the end of the Second World War, when a stage replaced the former screen. The then Minister of Culture, Mirela Kumbaro, was accused of trying to destroy heritage and demolish the theatre for private interests of investors with close ties with government officials. (en)
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- National Theatre of Albania protests (en)
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