Albanian police fired water cannon and tear gas Sunday as violent anti-government protests entered a sixth day and Prime Minister Edi Rama rejected demonstrators’ demands that he resign. Violent demonstrations have rocked Tirana since Tuesday with protesters calling for action over poor university conditions, high tuition fees and corruption. Hundreds…...
Albanian police fired water cannon and tear gas Sunday as violent anti-government protests entered a sixth day and Prime Minister Edi Rama rejected demonstrators’ demands that he resign.
Violent demonstrations have rocked Tirana since Tuesday with protesters calling for action over poor university conditions, high tuition fees and corruption.
Hundreds of protesters gathered again at noon in front of the education ministry chanting “Rama, resign” amid a tense standoff with police.
After police bid to disperse the crowds the protests scattered across the city centre, escalating in hours-long violent clashes.
Protesters set ablaze litter bins in the streets, smashed windows, including at the headquarters of the governing Socialist party, and set fire to a police station and the entrance of the interior ministry.
Chaotic clashes extended to the main boulevard and square with demonstrators throwing rocks, Molotov cocktails and firing pyrotechnic devices, as the police responded with rubber bullets and tear gas, according to an AFP journalist.
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Ambulances were seen rushing in and out of the scenes of clashes to pick up the injured.
The ministry of Health told AFP that 16 police officers were injured — 14 of them when protesters attacked the police station.
Albert Nushi, from the police public security department said on Sunday evening that a police station in Tirana was attacked with Molotov cocktails and pyrotechnic devices that endangered both officers and people held in custody.
“An attack on a police station is not a protest. Violence against police officers, attacks on institutions, and actions that endanger human lives cannot be tolerated,” he said.
He urged protesters to stay away from masked individuals behind the violence and “assemble in a peaceful manner”.
According to the Ministry of health, 28 people were injured on Sunday — 19 police officers, four protesters, four passers-by and a journalist.
Before the protest, shops and offices in the city centre secured their doors and windows with metal shutters, while city workers removed paving stones to prevent them being thrown by protesters.
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In a video broadcast lasting more than an hour, Rama ruled out resigning, stating that the protests are the “work of an outside hand”.
According to Austrian federal press service Rama’s official visit to Federal Chancellor Christian Stocker scheduled for Monday, has been cancelled by the Albanian side.
Buildings on fire
Writer and activist Lura Elezi, 38, told AFP that she is protesting for “a better life, rule of law and against crime and corruption”.
“I love my country, but my government does not respect us — it defies us. Every citizen must take responsibility for their country, taking on the duty to lead, to love, and not to destroy one’s own nation”, she said.
Tirana saw its harshest violence on Saturday when protesters threw rocks, Molotov cocktails, metal objects and pyrotechnic devices at police, and torched cars and litter bins to use as barricades against advancing police.
Buildings including a court, banks and a post office were set on fire or severely damaged.
According to a health ministry report issued Sunday, 65 people were injured, including 37 police, with 12 people hospitalized during Saturday’s protests.
Since Tuesday, 272 people have been injured in the clashes, including 169 police, the ministry said.
Albania’s close ally the United States reacted late Saturday. Its embassy in Tirana urged “restraint and calm on all sides”.
The European Commission in a written statement “condemned the use of violence in Tirana and other cities”, adding that the response to it “must remain proportionate”.
“In a candidate country firmly committed to the EU accession process… grievances should be handled through constructive dialogue and in a peaceful manner,” the statement said.
The unrest follows months of anti-government protests in the Balkan nation, initially sparked by a controversial resort development linked to US President Donald Trump’s family.
AFP