The police tried to stop the crowd from marching towards the country’s parliament building, in which case they used tear gas on the protesters.
At least ten police officers and three protesters have been injured in the Albanian capital Tirana during a demonstration demanding the country’s left-wing prime minister Edi Raman break up.
Thousands of people gathered on the streets of Tirana on Monday evening for demonstrations organized by the opposition. According to AFP, the crowd marched on Rama’s party office, where the building’s door and the Prime Minister’s picture were set on fire.
The police tried to stop the crowd from marching towards the country’s parliament building, in which case they used tear gas on the protesters.
In total, about a thousand police officers were ordered to the streets of Tirana against the demonstrators.
The opposition accuses the government of silencing
The demonstration was organized a week after opposition representatives protested against the prison sentence received by an opposition politician. In protest, opposition members carried their chairs from the parliament and set them on fire.
The opposition has accused Rama of delaying the sentence and the country’s government of corruption and efforts to silence the opposition. The demonstrators also protested the country’s former prime minister Hall for Berisha sentenced to house arrest. In the background are the corruption suspicions against Berisha, which he has denied and called the allegations political.
Rama, who won the previous three elections, has served as the country’s prime minister since 2013.
Sources: AFP, Reuters