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Police, Protesters Clash Outside Albanian Parliament

by Agence France-Presse

   TIRANA, ALBANIA --

   Thousands of opposition supporters clashed with police outside the
   Albanian parliament on Saturday during an anti-government protest
   demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama.
   Critics have accused the socialist prime minister, in power since 2013,
   of corruption.
   Police fired tear gas and water cannons at protesters, some of whom
   tried to enter the parliamentary building in Tirana by forcing their
   way through the main entrance.
   Five police officers and about 10 demonstrators and journalists
   required hospital treatment, mostly for breathing problems after the
   clashes, the health ministry said.
   Protesters repeatedly tried to break through police lines.
   Several windows were broken as some demonstrators threw smoke grenades
   and stones toward the parliament building.

   "The situation is out of control," said Lulzim Basha, an organizer of
   the protest and leader of the main opposition center-right Democratic
   Party.
   He blamed the police for having let the demonstrators get too close to
   the building so as to "incite violence" and allow Rama to denounce the
   opposition.
   On Wednesday, Basha told a meeting of his supporters that "the 16th of
   February will be the last day in power for Rama."
   Saturday's demonstration in the capital was the latest in a series that
   Basha has organized.
   An opposition coalition of five parties, ranging from the center-right
   to the center-left, has accused Rama of "collusion with organized
   crime" and plunging "the country into corruption and poverty."
   They want him to stand aside in favor of a government of technocrats
   who would prepare early parliamentary elections.