Albanian Protesters Battle Police in Tirana for Fifth Day — SkimNews
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- Anti-government protesters and riot police clashed for the fifth consecutive day in central Tirana, with masked students throwing rocks and petrol bombs at officers defending the education ministry.
- Police deployed water cannon, tear gas, and rubber bullets for the first time; 80 people have been charged with disorder, with hundreds more arrested or under investigation and injuries reported on both sides.
- PM Edi Rama, in power for 13 years, blamed the protests on the opposition Democratic Party and unnamed "foreign actors," while insisting Albania remains on track for EU membership by 2030.
- The protests began in early June after 135 days of peaceful demonstrations, according to a 19-year-old protester who said they were "trying to do like in France" to make a revolution.
- Parallel to the unrest, the EU- and US-backed special prosecution service arrested secret service chief Vlora Hyseni, who is accused of helping Rama's personal friend and businessman Ergys Agasi evade justice.
- Rama's Socialist Party holds 83 of 140 parliamentary seats and no elections are due until 2029, but political analyst Lutfi Dervishi said he is "caught between a rock and a hard place" as "the victim of his own success."
Why it matters: Rama's EU-friendly reformer image is now "seriously tarnished" by the street violence, per the source, while a parallel corruption prosecution has already arrested his secret service chief. With 83 of 140 seats and elections not due until 2029, he can't be voted out — but the youth-led street movement and judicial accountability converge into a legitimacy squeeze he can't simply outwait.
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