Opposition ‘clashes’ on Gerdec protest

TIRANA, Feb 25 – A year after the March 15 blast at the Gerdec ammunition disposal factory that killed 26, injured 300 others and destroyed some 5,000 buildings, the opposition is to hold a rally to protest against the government, blaming it for the disaster and also asking that the responsible persons, including the prime minister, be sacked.
But it seems that not the goal but the format, the way and the place of the rallies has divided the main opposition Socialist Party of Tirana Mayor Edi Rama and the Socialist Movement for Integration of former Prime Minister Ilir Meta.
Both opposition parties have announced they will hold anti-government rallies. But they are clashing on the places where they are to hold them, the importance and other details.
The two parties have long been in dispute since after the Gerdec blast last year when the parliament passed the new electoral code.
They are apart in their pre-electoral campaign and accusing each other of playing the governing Democratic Party’s Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s game.
Twenty-seven Defense Ministry officials and military, including the former minister Fatmir Mediu and also the owner and a manager of the private company, are charged from abuse of post to murder.
The opposition accuses directly Berisha of being involved in the scandal which also included the sale of Chinese-made ammunition to the Afghan army through a US company that is being investigated in the United States.