Albania's Prime Minister calls for dialogue after violent student protests

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Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama called for dialogue with protesting students, two days after violent clashes in Tirana, saying his government was ready to discuss their demands and find solutions.

Bloomberg News Agency reported that Rama said on Thursday from inside the office of the damaged College of Europe in the capital, “Students are the future.”

He added: "Students are welcome at any time... We are ready to sit down, talk, consult, and reach solutions."

Rama accused opposition groups of being behind the violence, not students, accusing them of undermining Albania's progress towards joining the European Union.

Confrontations renewed between demonstrators and the police on Wednesday in the Albanian capital, Tirana, where several fires were set, on the second consecutive day of violence against the backdrop of student protests demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama and increased support for students.

Riot control units used water cannons and tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters, while demonstrators threw stones and Molotov cocktails at security forces, burned garbage containers and set up barricades near the Ministry of Education, according to journalists at Agence France-Presse.

Protesters targeted the ministry building, stores, and a bank branch, smashed windows and set fire to documents inside the bank. Firefighters intervened to put out the fire.

On Tuesday, police arrested sixteen people after government buildings were damaged and individuals stormed the municipal building and set it on fire.

The European Union, which Albania aspires to join, expressed its concern about the “escalation of violence,” calling for a reduction in tension and an investigation into allegations that police used excessive violence against demonstrators and journalists.

The confrontations come after more than four months of anti-government protests, sparked by a luxury hotel project in a coastal nature reserve linked to Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, amid suspicions of corruption and a lack of transparency.

The students adopted these demands, stressing that their action on Tuesday also aimed to denounce the conditions in universities, tuition fees, and the lack of support provided to young people.