Albania police fire tear gas, water cannon at anti-government protesters

Police in Albania's capital Tirana fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse hundreds of opposition protesters blocking roads, who accused the government of corruption and demanded it be replaced with a technocratic caretaker authority.

Protesters said they were engaged in a campaign of civil disobedience against Socialist Party Prime Minister Edi Rama. The opposition in Albania have been protesting almost every week demanding a caretaker government step in until parliamentary elections in 2025.

"The protests will continue, this is a battle until this regime goes," Tedi Blushi from the opposition Freedom Party told local media.

The leaders of Albania's two biggest opposition parties, Sali Berisha of the Democratic Party and Ilir Meta of the Freedom Party, are charged with corruption offences and both accuse Rama of orchestrating these. They deny the charges.

Rama says the charges are not politically-motivated and accuses the opposition of trying to seize power with violence.

Berisha is being held under house arrest on corruption charges relating to his time as prime minister. Meta was arrested in late October also on corruption charges for the time when he served as president between 2017-2022.

Rama has been in power since 2013 and plans to run for a fourth term next year.