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Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on Monday accused anti-government protesters of crossing a “red line” after a police station was set ablaze, as unrest that has built over months grew more violent.
Demonstrators have clashed with police since Tuesday. The protests are driven by demands for better conditions at universities, anger over corruption and renewed calls for Rama to resign.
“Protests are a right, whereas violence is a crime; this red line must be drawn clearly at this critical stage of our democratic development,” Rama wrote in a Facebook post.
The prime minister, who has led Albania since 2013, said he remained open to dialogue, but not with those who commit violence or with political parties that decline to distance themselves from it.
Hundreds of protesters gathered from early Monday morning, and a number of them again briefly clashed with police outside the education ministry in the afternoon. Demonstrators threw stones at riot officers, who fired tear gas and forced the crowd to disperse.
Reporters from AFP also saw a small group smash the doors and windows of the appeals tribunal before police stepped in. The attack followed days of assaults on government buildings.
Throughout the unrest, police have regularly used water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets against crowds that have targeted government buildings and smashed shops in several parts of the city. Protesters have hurled stones, petrol bombs and fireworks at officers.
Authorities say about 300 people have been injured, more than half of them police.
On Sunday, petrol bombs were thrown into a police station and at the entrance of the interior ministry. Several other government buildings have been badly damaged, among them the education ministry, which remains a focal point of the demonstrations.
Meeting police officers on Monday, Rama praised their handling of the unrest. He pledged a payment of 2,500 euros ($2,200) to “each officer on the front lines” and a “significant salary increase” starting January 1.
Rama has blamed “foreign hands” for the unrest and on Monday accused Iran and Russia of driving misinformation online. Stressing that Russia is “not an ally of Albania,” he warned of a “wave of Russian influence surging through the entire social media ecosystem.”
He also pointed to “tens of thousands of fake profiles,” allegedly linked to Iran, that he said had been mobilized under the guise of environmental activism.
Protesters say they will not back down. “We will continue our movement until Rama resigns. We are not criminals, we want social peace and better living conditions in our country,” Leka Sina, a 22-year-old science student, told AFP.
Sina also acknowledged the violence, saying it “is not a solution,” but added that the government “also needs to reflect deeply to understand this revolt.”
The protests in the Balkan nation were initially sparked by a controversial resort development linked to the family of US President Donald Trump.
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