Follow-Up: Albania's Saturday Anti-Government Protest in Tirana Ends in Clashes; Authorities Say Over 300 Protesters and Police Injured Combined
Thousands of people took to the streets of Tirana, Albania, on Saturday, October 24, in a fresh anti-government protest, according to the Associated Press. Riot police used water cannon and tear gas on the crowd, and protesters threw projectiles at police and attacked government buildings. Authorities said more than 300 protesters and police were injured combined, and police said 2,500 officers were patrolling the streets of Tirana that day.
The protest was driven by students and the opposition. Students demanded lower tuition fees, greater state investment in education and action against corruption in education, while the broader movement called for Prime Minister Edi Rama to resign. It was the latest in a series of clashes in Tirana since mid-October. In the October 17 protest, police said 500 people were detained and 120 officers and 45 protesters were injured; in the round reported on October 21 as entering its eighth day, prosecutors formally charged a former deputy prime minister with corruption.
Rama said on Saturday that his government was preparing a response to the students' demands and called them to a dialogue, while warning that violent protesters would face penalties. Protests also took place the same day in several other European cities, including a pensioners' march in Madrid, a housing protest in Lisbon and anti-war marches in Italian cities, but with different demands and scales; this report covers Tirana only.
Source: GSM·USA
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 阿尔巴尼亚首都地拉那的斯坎德培广场（Pudelek 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0）— via Wikimedia Commons / Skanderbeg Square in Tirana, Albania (Pudelek, CC BY-SA 4.0) — via Wikimedia Commons
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