Anti-government protesters clashed with riot police in Albania’s capital, Tirana, for the fifth consecutive day on Saturday, as demonstrations over corruption allegations intensified.
Axar.az reports, citing the BBC, that masked demonstrators, many of them students, threw rocks, petrol bombs and fireworks at police protecting the education ministry and Prime Minister Edi Rama’s office. Police responded with water cannons and tear gas, while reports indicated that rubber bullets may also have been used.
Protests in Albania began during the summer over plans by an investment company owned by US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to build a resort on the protected island of Sazan. The movement seeking to protect the island, which is a nesting site for migratory birds, including flamingos, became known as the “Flamingo Revolution”.
According to the report, many people on both sides were injured. Around 80 people have been charged with disorder, while hundreds more have been arrested or are under investigation.
Rama, who has been in power for 13 years, blamed the opposition Democratic Party and unnamed foreign actors for the unrest, arguing that they were seeking to obstruct Albania’s progress towards European Union membership.
It should be noted that riots have also erupted during the ongoing protests in France.