“Return the property to the Orthodox” STATEMENT / PËRMET REMINDED US OF THE PERSECUTION OF THE COMMUNIST PERIOD The three religious communities are calling on the Government: Give us the land that belongs to us by law. The Church of St. Mary of the Bazaar is needed for sacred services The clash between Orthodox priests and the Municipality of Përmet over the building of the Palace of Culture, which the church claims is its property, has been followed by reactions from Christian communities in Albania. In a press statement, the Christian Communities of Albania said that the bailiff service used violence against the clergy and religious objects, taking the years of persecution of the religious clergy in Albania back in time. “We have followed with concern and indignation the recent event in the Orthodox church “St. Mary of the Bazaar,” in the city of Përmet, where the police forces of a private bailiff company forcibly removed sacred religious objects from the place of worship and treated in a shameful manner the Orthodox clergy and believers who came out in defense of their church. The images broadcast by the media once again brought to mind the years of persecution and of the struggle against religious institutions and places of worship,” the statement says. Meanwhile, the Albanian Church Community has repeated its request to the Albanian state for the return... On page 7