According to Albanian media, Konstantinos Katsifas, a 35-year-old Greek man who was shot dead by Albanian police on Sunday after raising the Greek flag for "OXI Day" shouted “Zito I Ellas” as he took his last breath.
"The Albanian forces called on him to surrender but Katsifas did not respond to the many calls of the police," said Albanian authorities, who claimed Katsifas "opened fire and threatened the lives of the police".
Policemen of RENEA (Albanian Special Forces) "responded", according to the announcement, with a bullet to the head and another to the chest of the Greek man.
“Zito I Ellas” (long live Greece) were the last words the 35-year-old uttered near the village of Vouliarates (Bularat), around 5km from the Greek-Albanian border, where he was shot dead.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama took to Twitter defending his police officers actions saying, “Loving neighbours! Instead of calling it unacceptable the loss of life of a man who fired bullets at our police, who did their duty, join us in the Lord's thanksgiving that no innocent life was lost today from this extremist and a madman.”
Albanian police kill Greek man who raised Greek flag for ‘OXI Day’
