Demonstrators and riot police clashed in Albania’s capital on Wednesday in a second straight day of violence triggered by student protests calling for better university conditions and Prime Minister Edi Rama’s resignation.
Over several hours police deployed water cannon and tear gas while demonstrators targeted a government building and shops in Tirana, smashing windows and on at least one occasion setting a building on fire.
Riot police have routinely attempted to push back the crowd of hundreds, also using tear gas, after street violence overnight left 16 people arrested.
Demonstrators threw projectiles, including paving stones and petrol bombs, set fire to bins and used street fencing to form barricades along a central street near the Balkan nation’s education ministry, according to AFP journalists.
AFP saw two people climb over the ministry’s wall and throw flares into the building; shortly afterwards, thick black smoke poured from a window. Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze.
Nearby, a group of men were also seen smashing the windows of a bank office before setting fire to documents inside. Police intervened within minutes to put out the fire.
In another incident, flames engulfed what appeared to be an abandoned building as demonstrators smashed nearby shop windows.
Police had earlier called for calm, but tensions remained high into the afternoon.
– Molotov cocktails –
According to the health ministry, six police officers, eight protesters, three journalists and two passersby received medical attention on Tuesday, including for tear gas.
During the night, people also burst through the doors of the municipality building, lighting a fire inside and damaging several other buildings, police said.
Demonstrators originally gathered early on Tuesday to demand Rama’s resignation and more support for students in the country, but the rally comes after months of anti-government demonstrations in the capital.
Police said officers had “faced constant violence” on Tuesday and were “pelted with stones, blunt objects, firecrackers and Molotov cocktails by groups of masked demonstrators”.
– EU urges ‘de-escalation’ –
Meanwhile, the European Union, which the Balkan nation aspires to join, voiced concern over what it called the “violent escalation at the protest in Tirana”.
“We take note of the allegations of excessive violence by the police against protestors and journalists,” a statement by the EU delegation in Tirana said.
Calling for a prompt investigation, the delegation encouraged “all sides to de-escalate the tension”.
For more than four months, anti-government protests have routinely drawn crowds in the tens of thousands.
Originally sparked by a luxury tourism project linked to US President Donald Trump’s family in the country’s south, the demonstrations have occasionally flared into violence amid ongoing calls for Rama’s resignation.
Since late May, protesters have decried plans for a hotel in a coastal nature reserve linked to Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner.
The project has fuelled anger over alleged corruption and a lack of transparency.
Students have echoed those demands but told Albanian media that Tuesday’s protest was against university conditions, tuition fees and a lack of support for young people.
