TIRANA, May 14 – Monday’s national anti-government protest took place as a march in front of “some of the institutions that Rama has stolen from Albanians,” opposition leader Lulzim Basha said before the protesters, who initially gathered in front of the government building.
Protesters first stopped in front of the General Police Directorate “towards the institution that only suppresses. We do not want a crime police,” said Basha.
The second stop was in front of the Parliament, “the place that should be the temple of democracy, with the message that we do not recognize an illegal parliament.”
Then the demonstrators stood in front of the interior ministry “where rules a man not tied with the constitution and the law, but only the blind servilism and the service towards his boss.”
The last stop was made in front of the Tirana Police Directorate “where our brothers and sisters are unjustly being held.”
Before beginning the march, Basha delivered a speech in the square in front of the government building, which two nights ago, on Saturday, turned into a scene of violent acts against state buildings, in the direction of which a big number of Molotov bombs was thrown.
Monday’s protest was preceded by a large number of statements by the US Embassy, ”‹”‹the diplomatic headquarters of the main European Union countries, the MEPs and the leaders of the main OSCE institutions, who asked Basha and leader of the Socialist Movement for Integration Monika Kryemadhi to condemn the violence exercised during the Saturday protest.
In his speech, Basha highlighted the word “violence,” saying it is “Edi Rama’s only response to free and fair votes.”
“Every Albanian knows we have come here as a result of state violence and that state violence is a result of electoral violence. Because that is the only way Rama knows to take and to keep power,” Basha said in front of his supporters, who did not even attempt to approach the police officers’ fence in front of the Government building on Monday, only throwing firecrackers and smoke bombs at the direction of all the institutions where they stopped.
The situation became tense in front of the parliament, where a group of opposition supporters removed the metal fence position in front of the building, while the policemen there withdrew.
For a few minutes, a large number of firecrackers and explosive substances were thrown toward them, but the police seemed instructed not to respond.
The situation became more acute before the Tirana Police Directorate, where protesters also threw stones that broke some of the windows, and a single Molotov bomb.
According to a police announcement, only one employee was injured by the explosives.
“Today we showed that there is no force on earth to stop us in our cause for free and fair elections. That there is no force to force us to sit and bargain and compromise with evil. Evil must go and open way for Albania to be like all Europe,” said Basha from the headquarters of the DP at the end of the protest march that lasted over two hours, despite the uninterrupted rain.
