TIRANA, March 12 – Thousands of opposition supporters have gathered in Tirana in a protest rally demanding the resignation of Parliament Speaker Ilir Meta, who the opposition says must be investigated in connection to accusations of plotting to have two lawmakers assassinated.
At Thursday’s rally on the main boulevard in Tirana, Democrats’ leader Lulzim Basha asked for Meta’s resignation and blamed bad governance of Prime Minister Edi Rama for the “suffering of most Albanians.” Meta’s party is Rama’s junior coalition partner.
Prosecutors are investigating allegations by a member of parliament that Meta had offered an assassin 600,000 euros to kill two lawmakers, including the member of parliament making the accusations, Tom Doshi, who was expelled from the ruling Socialist Party last week. The other alleged target was Democratic Party MP Mhill Fufi, according to Doshi.
Many Albanian public figures, including Meta, Prime Minister Edi Rama and former Premier Sali Berisha, were asked to submit testimony by prosecutors this week.
A key witness in the case has changed his original story, saying that Doshi had payed him to corroborate his version of the story.
Doshi said he did not trust Albanian prosecutors and wanted the case to be dealt with by impartial international investigators.
The prime minister and the interior minister have called the allegations “fiction.”
The opposition Democrats have accused government officials of having criminal ties and noted the governing coalition is being accused from within its own ranks, so the matter must be thoroughly investigated.
Meanwhile, a group of opposition lawmakers have also asked the parliament to start no-confidence procedures for Meta, but they do not have the votes to sack the speaker.
Before the Thursday rally, the parliament held a brief 12-minute session passing several draft laws, quickly concluding the day’s work that usually takes hours of discussions.
The Democrats said the session was brief, because the ruling MPs and Meta were afraid to face the opposition protestors.
At the same time hundreds of Meta’s supporters gathered at his party headquarters in a sign of support.
The opposition gave figures of up to 300,000 participants at their rally, however, footage taken from the air showed the number was much lower. Using digital footage from above and Google data, online outlet ResPublica placed attendance at less than 25,000 people, fewer than the previous opposition rallies.
The protest numbers might have been affected by the threat of the protest turning violent, as Democratic Party leaders had earlier said they could not be held responsible for the crowd’s anger. They later toned down the rhetoric, but law enforcement authorities took no chances, with security being very high.
Police also warned those attending that it would increase security across the country and conduct searches to look for potential violent elements using weapons and explosives as part of a violent protest. A police spokesman also told all Albanians they had a legal obligation to have photo ID on them and offer it to police if asked.
None of these fears materialized and the protest was peaceful.
The governing coalition has failed to meet its promises to voters, increasing poverty and causing a sense of insecurity in the public, Basha told the rally.
Albania holds municipal elections in June, the first electoral test for the governing parties, following some tough reforms during their 18 months in power.
Albania, a NATO member since 2009, is working to convince the European Union to launch full membership talks.
