Protesters in Albania have fought with riot police on the seventh consecutive day of violent clashes. The protesters, many of them high school and university students, are trying to oust embattled Prime Minister Edi Rama. Official figures said 295 people have been injured, 186 of whom are police officers, before Monday's violence.
"The moment the state negotiates with this," Rama told grim-faced police chiefs, brandishing a rock hurled at police on Sunday, "the state has fallen". A police station and government buildings in Tirana have been attacked during the protests, which are being driven by demands for better university conditions, anger over corruption and calls for Rama's resignation. The protesters included "young men and women who have been radicalised by dark forces in Europe and the US", Rama said.
"Albania has become one of the targets of a well co-ordinated attack." In brilliant October sunshine in Rinia Park, also known as Youth Park, I watched people prising loose cobble stones - like that brandished by the prime minister - as ammunition for later battles with police. They did not have long to wait. A convoy of police vehicles advanced down a broad boulevard, led by an armoured truck firing water cannon and tear gas canisters among the fleeing protesters.
Squads of riot police chased the predominantly student crowd through the park. Protesters took refuge in a cafe where even the eyes of the waiters streamed from the teargas. Under trees, volunteers in yellow reflector jackets stood their ground helping those overcome by the fumes.
I watched a young man remonstrating with a policeman, who then fired pepper spray in his face at point-blank range. "The police actions are often chaotic and stupid," human rights lawyer Gentian Sejrani told the BBC. He provides legal support to more than 100 people who have been arrested.
"In court, the police rarely present evidence," he said. His clients include a man arrested on his way to a bus stop – completely unrelated to the protests, he said. "Those who are actually throwing stuff at the police rarely get caught, because they run the fastest," Serjani said.
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