Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has rejected calls to resign as violent anti-government protests in Tirana enter their sixth day.
TIRANA: 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, who used water cannon and tear gas to hold back the crowds.
Protesters set ablaze litter bins in the streets, smashed windows on their route, including at the headquarters of governing Socialist party, and threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at police.
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.
In a video broadcast lasting more than an hour, Rama ruled out resigning, stating that the protests are the “work of an outside hand”.
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. Police used rubber bullets on demonstrators for the first time since the protests began, AFP journalists saw.
Albert Nushi, from the police public security department, said in a statement said that because of “the unprecedented scale of attacks on the police”, a “limited use of specialised crowd-control equipment was used”.
He urged protesters to stay away from masked individuals behind the violence and “assemble in a peaceful manner”.
He said police detained 54 individuals in Tirana on Saturday, and 27 face criminal proceedings.
According to a health ministry report issued Sunday, 65 people were injured, including 37 police, with 12 people hospitalized.
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 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.