TIRANA, Albania — Police fired tear gas and used water cannons to push back protesters Tuesday on the eighth straight day of violent anti-government demonstrations in the Albanian capital, Tirana.
High school and university students demanding lower tuition fees, greater state investment in education and protesting corruption in the education system have joined a broader anti-government movement calling for the resignation of Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.
For days, protesters have hurled rocks, flares, firebombs and fireworks at police who have used batons, water cannons and tear gas in clashes in the city center.
Albania is one of a number of European countries experiencing protests over rising fuel costs, discontent with the state of schools, declining public services and a housing crisis, including France and Italy. In Spain and Portugal, tent camps have sprung up to protest unaffordable housing, while a rally and a protest were also being planned in Greece on Tuesday evening and Wednesday.
In Albania, the latest protests follow months of rallies organized by the so-called Flamingo movement, launched in opposition to a major luxury tourism development on Albania’s southern coast linked to an investment firm founded by Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law.
“A wave of stones, an attempt to overthrow the government and change those in power through the imposition of violence — something that will never be allowed to happen, in any form or for any reason,” Rama said after a meeting Tuesday with teachers and representatives of Tirana’s schools.
He argued that legitimate concerns were being hijacked by people deliberately causing violence during the protests.
“This is a hybrid war that naturally works to the extent that it does because it is based on real concerns, not fantasies. Concerns about the cost of living are certainly real. Concerns about a secure future, housing, and greater opportunities to get ahead are also real,” Rama said.
The prime minister accused protesters of “hold(ing) the city under a climate of terror” and said students involved in the protests “belong to emerging currents of political extremism.”
Grdanoski and Cimili write for the Associated Press. Cimili reported from Pristina, Kosovo. AP writer Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed to this report.
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