Albania’s two main opposition parties, Democratic Party (DP) led by Lulzim Basha and Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) led by Monika Kryemadhi staged Saturday a massive protest in front of Prime Minister Edi Rama’s offices in Tirana’s main boulevard.
Opposition leaders Basha and Kryemadhi declared from their headquarters early Saturday that they decided to join forces and escalate their protests till they bring down Edi Rama’s government.
According to Basha, citizens here have numerous reasons to protest as they noted that the government has plunged the country into poverty, corruption, crime, narcotics, informality, etc.
Basha also said that other junior parties here would join the protest while he underscored that all opposition political forces had agreed on a joint political action against current government.
On her part, SMI leader said in the beginning of protest that her party would collaborate with the Democrats not only for Saturday’s protest but also for a series of protests to be held afterwards that would aim to overthrow Rama.
Saturday’s protest was announced in late December, followed the protest that DP and SMI lawmakers held in the parliament hall the day when majority voted and elected the temporary General Prosecutor in the last session of the year.
Opposition MPs threw smoke bombs while their supporters clashed with police forces outside, but they couldn’t stop the voting process.
Thus they warned that they would hold massive protests in January.
Opposition leaders have declared that the protests would be peaceful and well-organized. On the other hand, the interior ministry has deployed around 1,300 police officers and National Guard staff in order to keep the situation under control.
