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Albania protests turn violent as students clash with police in Tirana · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: Scores of protesters have been detained and several people injured
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  Speaker 1: after student-led demonstrations in Albania turned violent. The protests, which
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  Speaker 1: began in May, are driven by anger over corruption and
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  Speaker 1: shortcomings in the education system. Media reports describe the latest
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  Speaker 1: clashes as the most violent since the demonstrations began. Thousands
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  Speaker 1: of protesters gathered in front of the education ministry during
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  Speaker 1: a second day of protests in Tirana on Wednesday. Fires
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  Speaker 1: broke out as police used tear gas and water cannon
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  Speaker 1: to disperse the students. Organisers said the protest was over
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  Speaker 1: conditions at universities, higher education costs, financial support and employment
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  Speaker 1: prospects after graduation. Let's bring in Besalik Mehta. He is
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  Speaker 1: a journalist at the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Albania
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  Speaker 1: and joins us from the capital, Tirana. Now, what's the
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  Speaker 1: situation on the ground now? Are the protests still going on?
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  Speaker 2: The protests are still ongoing.
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  Speaker 3: And the last time I checked, there was a huge
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  Speaker 3: crowd gathered in front of the prime minister's office. There
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  Speaker 3: were water cannons being employed, a lot of tear gas,
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  Speaker 3: a lot of paper spray to handle the crowd. Several
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  Speaker 3: government buildings were also attacked, the Ministry of Education, the
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  Speaker 3: Ministry of Economy. And also there were fires and street
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  Speaker 3: battles across the city between the security forces and this
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  Speaker 3: group of disaffected youth and students who have been protesting
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  Speaker 3: for the last two days, clashing with police.
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  Speaker 1: Now, the grievances of the students seem quite understandable. Now,
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  Speaker 1: what has triggered the escalation in violence?
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  Speaker 3: The escalation of violence has come because the protest movement,
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  Speaker 3: which has been peaceful and protesting daily over the last
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  Speaker 3: four months, has failed to, pretty much for the government,
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  Speaker 3: has failed to provide a political solution to the crisis.
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  Speaker 3: The prime minister has offered little in terms of dialogue,
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  Speaker 3: and there is very little trust of this government, whose
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  Speaker 3: corruption scandals keep on multiplying. There is a crisis of
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  Speaker 3: legitimacy in Albania in terms of of the Prime Minister
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  Speaker 3: and they're asking for his resignation. Prime Minister Adirama has
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  Speaker 3: failed to address the public in the last two days
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  Speaker 3: while the splashes keep intensifying.
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  Speaker 1: Now the opposition and also the wider anti-government Flamingo movement
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  Speaker 1: are also involved in these protests. Could this develop into
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  Speaker 1: a broader political crisis?
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  Speaker 3: Well, this is escalating to a broader political crisis because
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  Speaker 3: there is no political solution being offered. Certainly, the country
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  Speaker 3: needs to address the problems with disaffected youth, needs to
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  Speaker 3: address its crisis.
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  Speaker 2: In terms of corruption.
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  Speaker 3: And there can be no solution from the street and
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  Speaker 3: a political solution should be offered.
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  Speaker 2: Certainly, the best way forward could be through polls, through
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  Speaker 2: early polls.
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  Speaker 1: Now, talking about a political solution, how has the Albanian
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  Speaker 1: government responded to these protests?
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  Speaker 2: The government has blamed the protesters for the violence.
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  Speaker 3: They have offered little in terms of providing a way
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  Speaker 3: out of the crisis. And we're still waiting for the
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  Speaker 3: prime minister, which is the most powerful man in the country,
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  Speaker 3: to address the public and provide his thoughts how this
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  Speaker 3: can be resolved. Unfortunately, also the opposition is widely unpopular.
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  Speaker 3: one of the main chances of the protesters in the
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  Speaker 3: street is for the leader of the opposition and the
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  Speaker 3: leader of the government to be jailed. So there is
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  Speaker 3: a huge mistrust of the leadership, of the status quo
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  Speaker 3: of the ruling elite among youth who don't see their issues,
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  Speaker 3: their problems, the cost of living, the good education system,
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  Speaker 3: prospect for employment, addressed by the ruling elite. And this
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  Speaker 3: has produced this political crisis.
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  Speaker 1: When the government isn't doing anything of substance, as you
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  Speaker 1: have indicated, where do you see this protest going?
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  Speaker 3: It's very hard to predict. I mean, there is hundreds
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  Speaker 3: of youths in the street clashing with police. And unfortunately, today,
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  Speaker 3: what we've seen is security forces pull back and even
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  Speaker 3: sometimes abandoning public buildings. The police are widely unpopular. They
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  Speaker 3: are widely infiltrated by organized crime. And unfortunately, it doesn't
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  Speaker 3: appear they have needed the legitimacy of the will to
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  Speaker 3: handle this rally in, let's say, in a proper way.
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  Speaker 3: The government and the political leaders should come out with
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  Speaker 3: solutions that give an option out of the crisis and.
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  Speaker 2: Don't have the situation deteriorating further than it has.
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  Speaker 1: Now, do you get the feeling that the students, the
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  Speaker 1: young people on the streets, that they have a kind
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  Speaker 1: of a mandate from the wider population? What about the
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  Speaker 1: support of the average Albanians for the students there on
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  Speaker 1: the streets?
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  Speaker 3: The grievances of the students are widely supported by the
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  Speaker 3: population in Albania. I can just recall that... during the
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  Speaker 3: Flamingo protests, tens of thousands of people came to the
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  Speaker 3: street in a peaceful manner. They have been protesting for
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  Speaker 3: the last four months, but the government has just turned
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  Speaker 3: a deaf ear to their to their grievances, has not
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  Speaker 3: offered any way for proper dialogue, has not offered any
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  Speaker 3: pullback from their main request, which is not only, let's say,
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  Speaker 3: the resignation of the prime minister, but also to withdraw
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  Speaker 3: from a couple of very unpopular pieces of legislation which
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  Speaker 3: affect protected areas in the country, also strategic investment, which
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  Speaker 3: is this other law which actually favours a number of
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  Speaker 3: oligarchs compared to everybody else in terms of investing.
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  Speaker 2: In the country. So there's been very little in terms
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  Speaker 2: of solutions.
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  Speaker 3: While the corruption scandals of this government keep multiplying, I'll
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  Speaker 3: just remind you that the two main deputies of the
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  Speaker 3: prime minister, the two deputy prime ministers, were charged for
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  Speaker 3: corruption and money laundering. The mayor of a capital is
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  Speaker 3: in prison for corruption and money laundering. The head of
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  Speaker 3: the Secret Service was just arrested and is under house arrest,
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  Speaker 3: accused of leaking information and abating a fugitive, which is
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  Speaker 3: the head of a criminal organization. So this is a
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  Speaker 3: very dire situation in terms of governance in Albania. And
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  Speaker 3: the leadership of the whole political leadership is failing to
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  Speaker 3: provide solutions.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you very much.