Opposition protests against government handling of deadly depot blasts

TIRANA, March 16 – Thousands of people demonstrated Sunday against the government’s handling of a deadly explosion at an ammunition disposal factory last year.
The peaceful protest was launched west of the capital, Tirana, by the main opposition Socialist Party, which seeks to replace Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s government after a June 28 parliamentary election.
A brief commemoration ceremony was held for the victims of the blast near the site itself, then the protesters carried a huge national flag along the highway toward the capital, Tirana.
On March 15, 2008, a series of explosions killed 26 people, injured 302 and destroyed or damaged 5,500 houses. Albania’s former defense minister, the former army chief of staff and 26 other officials have been charged in court over the blasts, three of them with murder.
The plant is one of the Albanian army’s factories used to dispose of ammunition kept in storage across the Balkan country since the communist regime fell in 1990.
In a sign of internal friction among the opposition groupings thousands of supporters took part at two separate rallies held on two ends of Tirana’s Martyrs of the Nation Boulevard.
First the small Socialist Movement for Integration of former Prime Minister Ilir Meta marched in front of Berisha’s office holding a big banner “Berisha go“ and many anti-government speeches.
The main opposition Socialists gathered at Tirana’s main Skanderbeg Square with “Don’t forget“ as their main slogan.
“A year ago state corruption killed 26 people, injured more than 300 and destroyed thousands of properties… We shall bring a change through a new politics,“ said Socialist leader Edi Rama speaking in front of Berisha’s office where protesters moved together with the big flag, ending his speech, “Nothing is impossible if we are together.“
A judicial investigation has yet to establish the cause, but the government has said the explosions were accidentally triggered during disposal of aging Communist-era ammunition. The opposition has accused the government of corruption in the disposal of obsolete weapons.
The government expressed its condolences and solidarity to the victims’ families and assured them of its support in overcoming the tragedy’s consequences. “For the Albanian government, clarification of the truth on (the blast) is of capital importance,” it said in a statement.
On Saturday, an association of the victims’ families held a ceremony to say they did not want to be involved in the squabbling by political parties regarding the tragedy.
The European Union says it’s giving Albania 3.1 million to repair damage from the massive series of blasts in that commune. The funds would be used for new infrastructure, a school, water supply and sewerage systems.
Estimates published by the Albanian government say the explosion caused more than 15 million Euros in damage to the surrounding area. The explosions began when workers were moving stocks of old Chinese and Soviet shells stored at the base, a central collection point for the arsenal amassed by the communist-era dictatorship of Enver Hoxha.
About 100,000 tons of excess ammunition, mostly Russian and Chinese artillery shells made in the 1960s or earlier, are stored in former army depots across Albania, which has pledged to dispose of them by 2010 with the assistance from the U.S., Canada and other NATO countries.