Albania: student-led protests in Tirana enter sixth day; police use rubber bullets, Rama refuses to resign

Riot police in Tirana fired rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon at protesters outside Albania's Education Ministry on Sunday, October 18, the sixth consecutive day of student-led demonstrations demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama, Al Jazeera reported. Rama has ruled out stepping down.

How the clashes developed

The protests started over university conditions and tuition fees, and grew out of months of mostly peaceful anti-government demonstrations known as the Flamingo Revolution, according to Balkan Insight and Al Jazeera. That movement began in May over a luxury tourism project in a protected coastal area linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump. Reuters found no evidence of wrongdoing by Kushner, who is not directly involved in a villagers' land dispute, NBC News reported.

• Tuesday, October 13: Students threw rocks and eggs at the Education Ministry; police said protesters used Molotov cocktails, stones and other objects. Police reported 23 people apprehended and six officers injured (Balkan Insight).
• Night of October 13–14: Protesters broke into the ministry and set a fire inside, police said, and 16 more people were arrested (Al Jazeera).
• October 15–16: Police said 160 people were detained on Thursday evening over alleged violence, and by Friday demonstrations had spread to Elbasan, Shkodra and Korca (Al Jazeera).
• Saturday, October 17: Protesters threw rocks, Molotov cocktails and fireworks, and the Supreme Court building caught fire, AFP reported via France 24. The entrance of the Bank of Albania was set alight, banks and a post office were damaged, and in Durrës protesters smashed post office windows. AFP journalists saw police fire rubber bullets for the first time.

Rubber bullets

State police director Skender Hita said rubber bullets were used "in a limited manner," AFP reported. Albanian law allows their use during protests only in extreme cases, according to AFP. A volunteer first-aid worker told AFP that three people were treated for head, eye and leg injuries allegedly caused by them. Hita said seven officers had been suspended pending disciplinary investigations for overstepping their authority.

Casualty and arrest figures

The figures given by different authorities and agencies do not match:

• Arrests: Hita said 167 people had been arrested over five days and criminal proceedings opened against 388, AFP reported. Reuters, carried by NBC News, reported that police said 500 protesters had been detained and 330 released.
• Injuries: Reuters reported 120 police and 45 protesters registered as injured by October 17, and said protester injuries are likely undercounted. Albania's health ministry said on Sunday morning that 272 people had been injured since Tuesday, 169 of them police officers, according to Al Jazeera.

The government's position

Rama has blamed foreign hands for the unrest and said it is "not a student phenomenon," Al Jazeera reported on October 16. He said he was ready to discuss rising education costs but would not resign. On Saturday he told Reuters he would not step down and said his government would protect the students' right to protest. Deputy Prime Minister Albana Kociu said protest was a legitimate right but could not justify violence.

Protesters' demands include better education, more jobs, an end to alleged corruption and Rama's resignation, according to Al Jazeera. Rama's government denies corruption. Rama, in power since 2013, won a fourth term last year, and Albania hopes to join the European Union by 2030. The Association of Journalists of Albania said police physically injured a journalist on October 13, Balkan Insight reported.