Flames reach Albania’s Supreme Court as Rama again rejects calls to resign

Offices of Albania’s Supreme Court were damaged by fire in Tirana on Saturday evening, the fifth day of anti-government protests, and the entrance of a building housing Bank of Albania offices was set alight. Prime Minister Edi Rama reiterated on Sunday that he would not resign.

Violence in the anti-government protests that began in the Albanian capital, Tirana, on Oct. 13 reached the judiciary and the central bank on the fifth day. According to Albanian news site CNA, a fire that broke out on Saturday evening on the first floor of a business next to the Supreme Court building spread to the court’s offices because of its intensity.

The footage below, released by Al Jazeera, shows a structure engulfed in flames near the court and a burning car in front of it.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze. Albanian public broadcaster RTSH reported that a business and several vehicles near the court were also burned. The extent of the damage to the court’s offices and files is not yet clear.

Entrance of Bank of Albania offices set on fire

According to RTSH, protesters scattered across the city after police used four water cannon trucks to clear Dëshmorët e Kombit Boulevard in front of the prime minister’s office. One group threw Molotov cocktails at the former Hotel Dajti, which houses offices of the Bank of Albania, setting the building’s entrance on fire.

The former Hotel Dajti in Tirana, which houses Bank of Albania offices

“Violence is not protest”

In a statement on Saturday evening, Justice Minister Toni Gogu stressed that neither of the two institutions attacked answers to the government. “Two independent institutions. Neither is a government office. Both serve the country and its citizens,” Gogu said.

Saying that whoever sets fire to a court strikes not the government but citizens’ right to justice, Gogu added: “Protest is a right. Violence is not protest.” The minister thanked the firefighters who put out the blaze and expressed solidarity with the Supreme Court’s judges and staff.

A structure engulfed in flames during the protests in Tirana

272 injured since Tuesday

According to figures released by Albania’s Health Ministry on Sunday morning, 65 people, 37 of them police officers, were injured in Saturday’s unrest, and 12 were hospitalized. That brought the number of injured since Tuesday to 272, including 169 police officers. Police said 167 people had been detained during the week and criminal proceedings had been opened against 388 people.

Day six: Molotov cocktails at a police station

On Sunday, the sixth day of the protests, hundreds of people gathered again outside the Education Ministry around noon, chanting “Rama, resign.” After police intervened with water cannon and tear gas, clashes spread to the city center.

Protesters attacked a police station in Tirana with Molotov cocktails and pyrotechnics. Police official Albert Nushi said the attack had endangered officers and people in custody, adding: “An attack on a police station is not a protest.” According to the Health Ministry, 28 people were injured on Sunday, 19 of them police officers; the injured also included four protesters, four passersby and a journalist.

Rama stands firm

In a video message of more than an hour released on Sunday, Prime Minister Edi Rama once again rejected calls to resign and described the protests as “the work of an outside hand.” According to Austria’s federal press service, Rama’s meeting with Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker in Vienna on Monday was also canceled by the Albanian side.

The U.S. Embassy in Tirana on Saturday night called for “restraint and calm on all sides.” The European Commission condemned the violence in Tirana and other cities, stressed that the response “must remain proportionate” and called for grievances to be resolved through “constructive dialogue.”

What do the students want?

The protests began on Tuesday, Oct. 13, outside the Education Ministry in Tirana. Young people are angry about high tuition fees, poor conditions at universities, unemployment and corruption allegations against the government. On Saturday, students threw a burning suitcase into the ministry’s courtyard to show that they do not want to be forced to leave the country for a better future. The protesters’ common demand is Rama’s resignation.

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