Fifth Day of Clashes in Tirana as Albania’s Anti-Government Protests Escalate

Riot police and demonstrators clashed in central Tirana for a fifth consecutive day on Saturday, as a protest movement that began over the summer hardened into a direct challenge to Prime Minister Edi Rama’s government.

Masked demonstrators, a mix of secondary-school pupils and undergraduates, threw stones and petrol bombs toward lines of police defending the education ministry, a building that has become a repeated target of the unrest; officers answered with water cannon and tear gas, and there were also reports that rubber bullets were deployed for the first time. As the afternoon wore on, the crowds swelled further around Rama’s office on the city’s main boulevard, pelting riot police with cobblestones and fireworks and prompting repeated volleys of gas that sent people fleeing before they regrouped to continue. By nightfall, special forces had been called in to reinforce the police line, and the city centre was left strewn with broken glass and burnt debris; around eighty people have faced disorder charges to date, and hundreds more have either been arrested or remain under investigation.

Among those on the street was George, a 19-year-old who studies medicine and takes electrical work on the side to cover his tuition. “We were peaceful for 135 days. Now we are trying to do like in France… we are trying to make a revolution,” he said, holding two rocks meant for police. “Our government doesn’t want peace, so we are using violence.” Seventeen-year-old Klea, in her first year at university, said students across Tirana were boycotting classes to “fight for our rights,” though she also alleged provocateurs were smashing up shops and banks to discredit the movement.

The unrest has been fuelled by corruption allegations swirling around Rama, whose Socialist Party has governed for 13 years. A parallel set of investigations by Albania’s special prosecution service — established under EU and US pressure in 2019 — has added to the pressure, after prosecutors arrested the country’s secret service chief, Vlora Hyseni, accused of helping businessman and Rama associate Ergys Agasi evade justice. Agasi, through his legal representative, rejects the claims against him, while Rama confirms the acquaintance but disputes any awareness of unlawful dealings.

Rama has blamed the unrest on the opposition Democratic Party and what he called the “sinister agenda of foreign actors,” without naming them, while urging Albanians in a social media post not to “forget that we have achieved extraordinary things.” Political analyst Lutfi Dervishi told the BBC that Rama’s dominance has become his liability: “He’s the victim of his own success. By concentrating so much power in his own hands, he has made himself the only person the people blame for their grievances.”

With students declaring themselves opposed to the “whole corrupt political class,” commentator Osman Stafa has floated a “neutral, caretaker government for one year” to oversee fresh elections — though Rama’s party holds 83 of 140 seats in parliament, and the next vote isn’t due until 2029.

Source: BBC News