Tirana (Albania), Oct 16 (AP) Student-led demonstrators clashed Thursday with Albanian police in the capital Tirana for a third day running, joining a broader anti-government movement launched in opposition to a major development project linked to US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Youths protesting Albania’s long-serving Socialist government hurled rocks at a police cordon outside the Education Ministry, and riot police responded with tear gas and water cannons. Police detained several demonstrators.
Protesters in masks aimed fireworks at government offices and set fire to trash bins, sending thick clouds of smoke into the air. Television reporters gasped for breath during live broadcasts as smoke and tear gas filled the air.
The latest clashes followed hours-long riots on Wednesday when protesters attacked government buildings, banks and businesses, leaving dozens of people injured.
The protests were led by student groups seeking education reforms. They have joined the so-called flamingo movement, which is calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama over allegations of widespread corruption and in opposition to the large luxury tourism development on Albania’s southern coast, associated with an investment firm founded by Kushner.
The movement earned the name after protesters used signs depicting the pink birds, which live in their thousands in a nature reserve on the island where the development is planned.
On Thursday, high school students joined thousands of protesters on marches through the center of the capital, chanting “Rama Resign!” as they brought the city to a standstill.
“We will be in the square every day,” Mateo Yskollari, a prominent protest organizer, wrote in an online post. “Our response to any attempt to silence us will be to expand the protest, civil mobilization, and disobedience.”
Though initially peaceful, the rallies turned violent when confronting police cordons. Groups of youths also broke away from the rallies to attack government buildings and commercial storefronts.
Police prioritized protection of government buildings. They joined government officials in appeals to parents to keep their teenage children at home.
National police chief Skender Hita said 71 officers had been injured. He urged police to act with “professionalism and restraint,” adding: “The national police guarantee the right to peaceful protest and assembly but that cannot be used as cover for violence, arson and vandalism.”
As smaller clashes broke out in at least three other Albanian cities, the country’s education minister, Mirela Kumbaro, issued her appeal in a video message.
“As minister of education, but also as a mother, I want to share with you a call for cooperation,” she said. “While the dark hands’ create dark smoke with destructive actions against public properties and private businesses, we must not let our children near that smoke.”
Rama Thursday greeted cleanup crews and issued a video message from a burned-out college building. He directly accused political opponents of inciting the violence, promising to stay on as prime minister to further Albania’s bid to join the European Union.
“We will all get through these difficult hours together because Albania will continue to climb, because Albania will continue on its path to Europe,” he said. “No one can grab Albania by the throat. Anyone who thinks the law does not apply to them is mistaken.”
Rama’s Socialists won a fourth consecutive election victory last year and Albania is not due to hold another parliamentary election until 2029.
The conservative opposition Democratic Party backed the student protests and called on Rama to appoint a caretaker government to prepare for early elections. It retained a group of lawyers to provide legal assistance for detained protesters.
“This movement is not simply a protest against the government,” the party said. “It’s a revolt against a model of government created by Edi Rama that has stolen hope from young people, violated citizens’ trust and is increasingly distancing Albania from its European future.”
A European Union delegation in Albania called late Wednesday for a proportionate response from authorities, expressing concern at “the violent escalation at the protest in Tirana.
(PTI News)
