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Albanians set fire to government buildings and clash with riot police in latest protests

Demonstrators in Albania have set fire to government buildings and banks, smashed shop windows during the latest clashes with police as they demand the prime minister's resignation.

The student-led protesters are railing against what they claim is government corruption, a lack of job opportunities and poor education standards.

Protests began in the capital Tirana last week and quickly spread to other cities, continuing for a seventh day into Monday.

Riot police in gas masks were deployed in Tirana, with protesters and journalists seen near a burning barricade in the capital on Monday.

Demonstrators gathered in a square with an Albanian flag as smoke rose from a flare, and water cannons were used to put out various fires.

On Sunday, thousands gathered outside the Education Ministry in Tirana ⁠and threw rocks at riot police who used tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets.

The same day, prime minister Edi Rama rejected calls to step down and said the protests were a threat to Albania's hopes of joining the European Union.

He said in a live address on Facebook: "I am not being challenged, the government is not being challenged, a government majority or a winning party in the elections is not being challenged, but a path is being challenged, a mission ​is being challenged.

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"Albanians need to think very clearly: Do they want this, do ​they want that, or do they want the EU?"

The protests come after months of largely ​peaceful demonstrations against a luxury coastal development backed by US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Plans for the luxury project boast hotels, apartments, villas and a marina across two sites: a coastal development in the Narta Lagoon area, which is a wildlife reserve, and a smaller resort on a nearby uninhabited island.

Sky News

(c) Sky News 2026: Albanians set fire to government buildings and clash with riot police in latest protests

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