Opposition rally against interior minister

TIRANA, March 5 – Scores of young opposition Socialist Party supporters held a rally last week Friday seeking the resignation of Interior Minister Lulzim Basha.
The protesters gathered at noon in front of Basha’s office chanting slogans and accusing the minister for the death of four anti-government protesters during the January 21 unrest.
A violent opposition protest on January 21 turned deadly when following shots from the guns of the Republican Guard four persons died and about a dozen others wounded. That is what is believed though the prosecutors are still investigating the case and only one guardsman is under arrest.
More than 150 protesters, policemen and guardsmen were also injured in the clashes when several hundred marchers attacked the police barricade set up to protect the prime minister’s office, using sticks, stones and Molotov cocktails. Police responded with tear gas, water cannons and later with live ammunition.
Prosecutors are investigating the murders, the organisers of the protest and the violent demonstrators that attacked the police.
Basha is tipped to be the ruling party’s candidate for mayor of Tirana in the May 8 local elections, a post currently held by opposition leader Edi Rama, who is also believed to run again for the post, for the fourth time.