Tear Gas in Tirana: Student Protests Turn Violent as Crowds Demand PM Rama Quit

Albanian riot police fired tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets in Tirana on Saturday, October 24, as student-led protests against the government turned violent, Reuters reported. Demonstrators threw rocks at officers and started a fire at the door of the agriculture ministry in the capital, after gathering around 2 p.m. in front of the education ministry.
The protests are fuelled by anger over perceived government corruption, a lack of jobs and poor education standards, and have engulfed central Tirana and spread to other cities this month. Demonstrators demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama have set fire to government buildings and banks, smashed shop windows and pulled up paving stones to throw at police. The unrest follows months of largely peaceful summer protests against a luxury coastal development backed by US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, and poses the biggest challenge yet to Rama, who has governed since 2013 and won a fourth term last year.
"Albanians have woken up," said 28-year-old protester Daniel Tahiri, who described the government as a "dictatorship with the clothes of democracy." Another protester, 29-year-old Orgeta Likaj, said people wanted Rama to know that Albanians no longer want him because of corruption and scandals. Police pushed the crowds away from the education ministry, and they dispersed to several locations across the city.
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