The China Mail - Albanian PM condemns 'chaos' as violent unrest spreads

Protesters again clashed with police in Albania's capital in hours-long confrontations, with crowds targeting government buildings, banks and shopfronts.

Demonstrators, who had earlier gathered in the thousands, are demanding that Rama step down and that the government offer more support for students, citing poor university conditions and high tuition fees.

On Thursday, protests spread to several smaller cities, as more students joined university boycotts.

In Shkodra, in Albania's northwest, protesters smashed city hall windows and pelted the ruling Socialist Party and opposition Democratic Party headquarters with stones, local media reported.

Broadcast images also showed protesters confronting police in southern coastal cities, with reports of Korce students smashing school windows and blocking streets.

In Tirana, AFP journalists saw repeated clashes with police across the city, with police using water cannons and tear gas as protesters lobbed stones, barricaded roads and set fire to trash.

Streets remained shrouded in smoke and tear gas into the early evening, littered with debris and shattered glass from smashed shopfronts.

The escalation comes after months of anti-government demonstrations in the country originally sparked by a controversial resort development linked to US President Donald Trump's family.

"We demand real change, not empty promises. We want a government that works for its people, not against them," journalism student Teftalia Papa told AFP.

She said the people had many issues accessing basic services, but students were being particularly "crushed by rising costs".

Protesters in Tirana on Tuesday and Wednesday smashed their way into several government buildings and set at least one ablaze.

Rama earlier posted a video on his Facebook page of him touring the burnt-out remains of an office at a college campus in Tirana.

"Until yesterday, this was the office of the College of Europe, the school of a united Europe," he said in the video -- his first public comments since the protests began.

"Today this is the ruin left by hands that are not, and can never be, the hands of students," Rama said, blaming opposition figures for the violence at the demonstrations.

"Everyone who has had a hand in this chaos will certainly pay."

- 'Ruin' and 'chaos' -

Meanwhile, protest groups circulated an "ultimatum" demanding the prime minister's resignation by 1:00 pm (1100 GMT).

Rama's office did not respond to AFP's request for comment on the protests and the calls for his resignation.

For more than four months, anti-government protests in Albania have routinely drawn crowds in the thousands.

They were triggered by a luxury hotel project linked to Trump's daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, that became a symbol of alleged corruption and inequality in the country.

Protester and media analyst Altin Tufa said several factors fueled the demonstrations, but the alleged clearing of land for the project in a protected coastal area was the "last straw, unleashing people's discontent and anger".

"It is the indifference, arrogance and failure of the entire political class to listen to people's concerns about economic, political, social and healthcare issues," Tufa said as he marched with protesters.

The European Union's delegation in Tirana strongly condemned Thursday's "violent escalation".

"We call on protesters to exercise restraint and to refrain from any acts of violence," it said in a statement.

The EU had also previously urged prompt investigation into allegations of excessive police force.

Police said 65 people were arrested during Wednesday's protests, suspected of "attacking police officers, institutions, public and private property".

A total of 71 police officers had been injured in the unrest, some seriously, police chief Skender Hita told reporters on Thursday.

He urged the demonstrators to "immediately distance themselves from masked and violent individuals", pledging that police will not back down.

The health ministry said that hospitals in Tirana treated 89 people on Wednesday, including 61 police officers.

Four officers and two protesters remained hospitalised, with one officer in intensive care, according to the authorities.

Z.Ma--ThChM