TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian opposition lawmakers blowing whistles disrupted a Parliament session on Monday to press home their demand for the government's resignation for alleged corruption, as hundreds of their supporters outside tried to push into the building.
Police kept out the demonstrators, who threw smoke bombs and fireworks before dispersing. No arrests or injuries were reported.
The tension followed a similar protest on Saturday in which thousands of opposition supporters took part.
The protests are being organized by the center-right Democratic Party of former president and prime minister Sali Berisha, and the left-wing Freedom Party of former president Ilir Meta.
Inside the hall Berisha and other lawmakers occupied the podium, and blew whistles to drown out anyone else trying to speak. The speaker ended the session without discussing any of the issues on the agenda.
“The people will speak,” said Berisha after leaving the parliament hall, and pledged to continue the protests later this week.
The opposition accuses the Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama of corruption and links to organized crime, and holds him responsible for the exodus of young Albanians who have left to pursue jobs in Western European countries.
The government denies that, and says the Cabinet has kept inflation low compared to elsewhere in Europe, and has subsidized electricity for families and small businesses.
The opposition also accuses Rama of corrupting Charles McGonigal, a former high-ranking FBI counterintelligence official, who is accused in the United States of hiding from the FBI key details of a 2017 trip he took to Albania with a former Albanian intelligence official who is alleged to have given him at least $225,000.
McGonigal met with Albania’s prime minister and urged caution in awarding oil field drilling licenses in the country to Russian front companies.
Rama has acknowledged meeting with McGonigal but denied allegations of giving him money or preferential treatment.
Not all opposition Democrats were present at the protest as Berisha’s party has been plagued by infighting after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in 2021 barred Berisha and his close relatives from entering the U.S. for “corrupt acts that undermined democracy” during his 2005-2013 tenure as prime minister.
Britain did the same last year.
___
Follow Llazar Semini on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lsemini
Llazar Semini, The Associated Press
