Police in Tirana fired tear gas and used water cannon in clashes on Friday (20 February) with opposition protesters demanding the resignation of the Albanian government following corruption allegations against the deputy prime minister.
Demonstrators hurled petrol bombs and fireworks at the Prime Minister Edi Rama's office and police responded with tear gas and water cannon.
Political tensions have escalated since December after a special prosecution unit indicted Rama's deputy, Belinda Balluku, for allegedly interfering in public tenders for major infrastructure projects and favouring certain companies, charges Balluku denies.
Thousands of opposition Democratic Party supporters chanted 'Rama, go away' and 'Rama in jail' carrying Albanian and party flags.
'Edi Rama's days are numbered,' said Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha. "Let them know that even if they go behind the sun, we will find them and punish them with the full force of the law.”
An anti-corruption court has suspended Balluku from office but the Special Prosecution Office, tasked with fighting corruption, has demanded parliament lift her immunity to enable her arrest.
Rama has complained about judicial overreach, especially with pre-trial detentions.
Albania aims to join the European Union by 2030 but the bloc says the country must do more to fight crime and corruption.
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Yemen's Houthis renewed warning to airlines, airport workers, and travellers against using Saudi airports, saying the warning should be taken seriously and that the kingdom “bore responsibility for failed interceptions”, a day after an attack on Riyadh's international airport that killed 12 people.
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said late Monday that it intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthi group toward Khamis Mushait in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
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The Kremlin on Monday rejected a 60-day ceasefire idea proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to allow his country to hold presidential elections, saying it wanted an overall peace deal instead.
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Climate activist Greta Thunberg joined high school students protesting outside a school in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis on Tuesday, as a wave of student demonstrations continues across France.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has visited a newly opened defence museum displaying weapons developed under his leadership, including an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.
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Britain's Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said the United Kingdom believes Iran was likely behind an alleged plot connected to RAF Fairford, a military airbase in Gloucestershire in England that has played a role in U.S. operations against Iran, escalating tensions between London and Tehran.
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