In Tirana, several thousand people had gathered for the demonstrations organized by the right-wing opposition, an AFP reporter reported from the scene.
Clashes broke out outside the government building as demonstrators tried to break through the police cordon. Several protesters were armed with Molotov cocktails.
The crowd then moved to the headquarters of the Socialist Party represented by Prime Minister Edi Rama, where protesters threw more Molotov cocktails, set fire to the entrance door and a poster with the Prime Minister’s image, an AFP journalist reports.
The protesters want Rama to step down and a caretaker government to take over until next year’s parliamentary elections.
Protesters also threw Molotov cocktails at the building of the Ministry of the Interior and the city council. A bus stop and several garbage containers were set on fire.
Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd that was moving towards parliament.
“Ten police officers have been injured so far in attacks with Molotov cocktails, pyrotechnics and hard objects,” police said, calling on demonstrators to stop attacks on police and state institutions and warning that steps were being taken to identify those involved in the attacks.
A week ago, opposition lawmakers took their chairs out of parliament and set them on fire to protest the prison sentence handed down to one of their colleagues.
Opposition Democratic Party official Erwin Salianji was found guilty in September of perjury in a drug-trafficking case against the brother of a ruling Socialist Party lawmaker.
The opposition has announced that the arrest and conviction of the MP is Rama’s revenge on the Democratic Party.
The leader of the Democratic Party and former prime minister Sali Berisha previously announced that Monday’s protests will be “the fight of our lives”.
Berisha has been under house arrest since December last year in connection with accusations of passive corruption. He has dismissed the charges against him as politically motivated.
2024-10-08 06:08:13