Sudden and dramatic explosion of violence in Tirana, where a demonstration staged by the opposition Socialists against the conservative government of Prime Minister Sali Berisha, accused of corruption and electoral fraud, has resulted in violent clashes with police, with a budget of 3 dead and dozens injured.At least 20 thousand people had gathered in the afternoon in front of government headquarters guarded by a cordon of officers, chanting slogans hostile to the premier and the entire leadership of the country, and calling for new elections. "Berisha go", "Down with the government," "We want new elections," they shouted along to the protesters, who threw stones and other objects at the building housing the executive.
When the situation has deteriorated, the riot police intervened, using tear gas, water cannons and batons. Suddenly gun shots are left for the demonstrators, three of whom died. Health sources said that the three arrived dead at the hospital. Dozens injured, at least twenty demonstrators and as many policemen.
It is the first time in Albania, in the throes of a political crisis that has lasted for months, an opposition rally ends in violent clashes with tragic consequences. The opposition Socialists, headed by Edi Rama and who has called the demonstration today, has never accepted the outcome of the elections in June 2009, Berisha won with a narrow margin but in reality for the Socialists would be distorted by fraud and irregularities.
The protest - which has now led to think of a dramatic scenario similar to that of Tunisia - has followed the recent resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta, at the center of a corruption scandal. If in Tunis, however, the demonstrators took to the streets primarily for reasons of financial hardship, the price increase and the lack of democracy in the country, in Tirana, the protest is due primarily to charges of corruption against the government.
After hours of fighting and giving heed to the appeals for calm by President Bamir Topi and the socialist leader Edi Rama, the demonstrators began to disperse, and police took control of the situation. The Foreign Ministry, speaking through a spokesman Maurizio Massari, has launched an urgent appeal "for calm and restraint on all parties" involved in Albania, which should resolve disputes through "normal political dialogue and in parliament." Similar exhortations to peace and democratic debate came from EU, U.S.
and OSCE. Attached to the January 22, 2011 The clashes in Tirana. Above, the Prime Minister Sali Berisha
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