Albanian police clash with protesters in Tirana as unrest enters sixth day

Albanian police fired water cannon and tear gas in Tirana on Sunday, as anti-government demonstrations entered a sixth day. Hundreds of people gathered outside the education ministry, chanting ‘Rama, resign’, before the clashes spread across the city centre.

Protesters threw rocks and Molotov cocktails, and officers replied with rubber bullets. A police station was set ablaze, and the entrance to the interior ministry was also damaged by fire. The health ministry said 28 people were injured on Sunday, 19 of them officers.

Edi Rama, the prime minister, rejected calls to step down. He described the unrest as the ‘work of an outside hand’.

Demonstrators say they are angry about poor conditions at universities, high tuition fees and corruption. The unrest follows months of earlier anti-government protests in the country.