Protest against price increase

TIRANA, Feb. 25 – Hundreds of Tirana citizens gathered Monday at main boulevards and in front of government offices to protest the lack of intervention and care on the part of the authorities following price increases of bread and other commodities in the last month. The protest was organized by the Mjaft! Non-governmental organization which said it also was critical of the former Socialist government, now in opposition, for not preventing the current price increases.
They added that more than one-fourth of Albania’s population is considered extremely poor, living on less than 2 dollars per day, and that strata could very likely be the hardest hit by price increases. Some opposition Socialist lawmakers joined the protesters.
The protestors said they were opposed to what they called an abusive exploitation by businesses to hike prices immediately and they criticized authorities for not responding.
They called on the government to intervene in the cases of those businesses that had created monopolies.