Rama faces sixth day of Albania protests with 272 injured

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama rejected demands to resign as protests over university conditions reached a sixth day on Sunday, Euronews said in an Oct. 19 news report citing 272 injuries since Tuesday.

The confrontation raises pressure on Rama while Albania pursues EU accession; the Health Ministry put Sunday’s toll at 28 people, compared with 65 injured on Saturday, the news report said.

Police used water cannon and tear gas on Sunday after hundreds gathered outside the Education Ministry in Tirana, where demonstrators chanted “Rama, resign,” according to the report. Clashes then spread through the city centre after police tried to disperse the crowd.

Albert Nushi, from the police public security department, said on Sunday night that a Tirana police station had been attacked with Molotov cocktails and pyrotechnic devices, endangering officers and people in custody. “An attack on a police station is not a protest. Violence against police officers, attacks on institutions, and actions that endanger human lives cannot be tolerated,” he said.

Rama, in a video broadcast lasting more than an hour, ruled out stepping down and said the protests were the “work of an outside hand,” Euronews reported. The Austrian federal press service said Albania cancelled Rama’s official visit to Federal Chancellor Christian Stocker scheduled for Monday.

The Health Ministry said 19 police officers, four protesters, four passers-by and a journalist were injured on Sunday. It said 16 police officers were hurt in one episode, 14 of them when protesters attacked the police station. An AFP journalist reported demonstrators throwing rocks, Molotov cocktails and pyrotechnic devices, while police responded with rubber bullets and tear gas.

Saturday brought the heaviest violence reported in Tirana during the latest unrest, with cars and litter bins set alight and buildings including a court, banks and a post office burned or badly damaged, according to the report. The Health Ministry said 65 people were injured on Saturday, including 37 police officers, and 12 people were hospitalised.

The latest protests began on Tuesday over poor university conditions, high tuition fees and corruption, according to Euronews. Atlas360 reported on Oct. 18 that police had arrested 167 people on the fifth day of protests, after 152 arrests had been reported a day earlier and seven officers were suspended over alleged excessive force.

The unrest follows months of anti-government demonstrations in Albania that began over a controversial resort development in an ecologically protected area linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s family, Euronews reported. The current wave has broadened the challenge facing Rama from a development dispute into education, living-cost and governance grievances.

International responses have focused on de-escalation. The U.S. embassy in Tirana urged “restraint and calm on all sides,” while the European Commission said it “condemned the use of violence in Tirana and other cities” and added that the response “must remain proportionate.”

The commission linked its appeal to Albania’s status as an EU candidate country. “In a candidate country firmly committed to the EU accession process...grievances should be handled through constructive dialogue and in a peaceful manner,” it said.