TIRANA, (Reuters) – Three men were shot dead as protesters battled police at an anti-government rally in the Albanian capital yesterday, in what Prime Minister Sali Berisha called an opposition attempt to foment a Tunisia-style uprising.
Supporters of the opposition Socialist Party, which refuses to accept the result of a 2009 election, protested outside Berisha’s office against what they see as official corruption and electoral fraud.
Some pelted the building and police with stones, sticks and umbrellas. Police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannon and stun grenades. Smoke billowed from burning cars, some of them police vehicles.
“The bastard children of Albania’s own Ben Alis conceived Tunisian scenarios … for you citizens of Albania,” Berisha said, comparing his Socialist foes with ousted Tunisian President Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali.
Socialist Party leader Edi Rama said the crowd was provoked and police had behaved unprofessionally.
The violence was the worst since the European Union applicant country spun out of control after the storming of the government building after the death of a lawmaker in 1998.
“Albania is not in a state of emergency and will not pass into a state of emergency. But scenarios of violence will not be tolerated,” Berisha said.
Alfred Gega, deputy director of Tirana’s Military Hospital, told reporters three civilians had died, one with a gunshot wound to the head and the other two with bullet wounds to the chest from close range.
Some 33 protesters and 17 policemen were wounded. A civilian and a policeman were in critical condition, Gega added.
Protestors packed the main boulevard. Witnesses estimated the crowd size at around 20,000; the opposition reported there were more than 10 times as many.
“I call for calm and maturity,” President Bamir Topi said after the violence erupted. “Albania needs to heal its wounds, not to open new ones.”
After about three hours of clashes police in riot gear dispersed the crowd and took control of the boulevard. Live television pictures showed police chasing stray lone protesters and beating them with truncheons.
