On 12 November 2019, Anxhela a trans woman living in Tirana was brutally attacked by five men in their 20s.
As she was sitting on a bench near the Albanian Parliament, Anxhela was hit on the back and beaten by the men until she lost consciousness. No one came to her help and once she could gain some strength she managed to walk to the Aleanca community center in downtown Tirana, where the staff called the police and an ambulance.
Anxhela was taken to the ER where with the help of other activists she received treatment, where she also gave a statement to the police.
According to the Alliance against Discrimination LGBT, Anxhela is frequently attacked with countless visits to the police and hospital. This underscores the importance of having long-term and secure housing in order to be safe and live a life of dignity.
The entire LGBTI movement in Albania as well as those in the Western Balkans and Turkey are outraged by this attack, nonetheless because Anxhela was an active part of the recent international LGBTI conference that took place in Tirana and because she was on the first row of activists who marched at the very first Tirana Dyke March on November 8th.
Despite the pleas of LGBTI organisations and activists for more than 10 years to help Anxhela with housing and other types of support, Albanian authorities (central and local) have constantly ignored such demands. As such, Anxhela is extremely vulnerable to the discrimination and violence of strangers.
We demand Albanian authorities to find the perpetrators of this heinous crime and to treat this case with utmost seriousness. This is not the first time that Anxhela and other members of the trans community are victimized by transphobes and homophobes who feel invincible in the face of government indifference.
Local LGBT organisations demand to have a meeting with the Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, to discuss concrete measures to ensure Anxhela’s needs are met. We remind the Albanian authorities that the right to housing and adequate standard of living is a basic human right.
Enough is enough!
We will not stop until Anxhela is done justice and that not only the perpetrators are put in front of justice but that she is also given housing and other support which is vital to her survival and wellbeing.
#justiceforAnxhela
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