TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s Constitutional Court ruled on Friday that the demolition of the country's National Theatre building a mistake and ordered construction work on a new theater to be suspended.

Albanian President Ilir Meta had asked the court to rule on whether the decision to demolish the theater was appropriate. The building was torn down last year after police dispersed a group of artists and opposition party officials who where protesting inside.

The protesters considered the 1930s-era, Italian-designed building as a fixture of the country’s architectural heritage and had petitioned the government to rebuild according to its original plans.

Neither the national government nor Tirana city hall under whose jurisdiction the theater falls have so far made any statement on the court's ruling.

The government had earlier started construction of a new 30 million-euro ($35.5 million) theater designed by Danish architects from the Bjarke Ingels Group.

The Associated Press