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Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said Thursday he would not resign over violent student-led protests that entered a third consecutive day, insisting that governments should be changed through elections rather than street demonstrations, Reuters reported.
“As for calls for my resignation, governments are changed through democratic elections. We had elections last year, not a revolution,” Rama said in written responses to Reuters questions.
“My responsibility is to listen, address legitimate concerns and keep Albania moving forward. The alternative would be a betrayal of the Albanians who gave me a strong mandate to complete negotiations on European Union membership.”
His remarks came as police clashed with demonstrators in the capital, Tirana, where protesters have smashed windows, damaged government buildings and demanded greater support for students struggling with high tuition fees and poor university conditions.
Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse crowds marching along several main roads Thursday morning, while demonstrations spread to other cities.
The unrest marks a major challenge for Rama, who secured a fourth term last year on a platform that placed EU membership at the center of his campaign.
Rama told Reuters he was willing to discuss the rising cost of education but rejected the violence accompanying the demonstrations.
“Attacking institutions, destroying public property and threatening public safety have nothing to do with the legitimate demands of students,” he said.
Violent clashes between police and demonstrators continued for hours Tuesday and Wednesday, with protesters forcing their way into several government buildings and setting at least one on fire.
As demonstrations resumed Thursday, police pushed back crowds attempting to approach the Education Ministry, while protesters threw stones at officers, an AFP reporter witnessed.
Police said 51 officers were injured during Wednesday's unrest and 65 people were arrested on suspicion of “attacking police officers, institutions, public and private property.”
Authorities did not provide figures for injured demonstrators, but Tirana's public hospital said seven protesters sought medical treatment following the violence.
The unrest also prompted parliament to cancel its session.
Rama was scheduled to meet his party's parliamentary group Thursday morning as protest organizers circulated an “ultimatum” demanding his resignation by 1:00 p.m. local time.
Rama also posted a video on Facebook showing him inspecting the burned remains of an office at the College of Europe campus in Tirana.
“Until yesterday, this was the office of the College of Europe, the school of a united Europe,” he said in his first public comments since the protests began.
“Today this is the ruin left by hands that are not, and can never be, the hands of students,” Rama said, accusing opposition figures of responsibility for the violence.
Meanwhile, university students in several other Albanian cities boycotted classes.
In the northern city of Shkodra, students from the foreign languages faculty gathered outside the rectorate.
Local media in the southern city of Korce reported that students had smashed windows at a high school.
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The European Union's delegation in Tirana renewed its calls for de-escalation, condemning the “violent escalation at the protest and the destruction of public and private property.”
“We call on protesters to exercise restraint and to refrain from any acts of violence. Violence has no place in democracies,” the delegation said.
On Wednesday, the EU also called for a prompt investigation into allegations that police had used excessive force against demonstrators.
The latest confrontations follow more than four months of anti-government protests that have regularly drawn thousands of people across Albania.
The demonstrations were initially sparked by a luxury hotel project linked to U.S. President Donald Trump's family.
Scientists said in July that the development had already caused irreparable damage to a previously pristine stretch of Albania's coastline.
The latest wave of student-led unrest has added demands for improved university conditions, lower education costs and Rama's resignation to the broader protest movement.
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