Residents of the villages of the Patos-Marinza oilfield have risen up again in strong protest today, abandoning the offices of Fier and directly surrounding the offices of the company "Bankers Petroleum" at the oilfield. Citizens denounce the non-payment of land rent and the company's attempts to unilaterally reduce the value of contracts, warning of an immediate escalation of the confrontation.
The protesters point out that efforts to demand their rights have been met with arrogance and closed doors by the company's leaders. The residents describe this situation as an unacceptable abuse of their wealth and property, highlighting the glaring financial imbalance where the salary of a Chinese foreign worker is equal to the rent of 10 plots of land taken from the local community. They have expressed their determination that if the initial agreement is not respected point by point, they will demand the immediate return of the lands to their original state.
After a brief 10-minute meeting between the community representatives and the company’s leaders, the residents have not received any concrete answers to their legitimate demands. In a statement to the media, the representative Aleksandër Profka confirmed that “Bankers Petroleum” justified itself with the unacceptable claim that it is facing “huge operating costs”. Faced with this official disregard, the residents announced the transition to a new phase of resistance: the complete blockade of extraction activity in some of the main fields of the resource throughout the area.
