Albanian PM blames ‘foreign hands’ for unrest as student protests intensify

What the report says

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has accused unspecified “foreign hands” of helping drive a wave of student-led unrest as protests intensified in Tirana and spread to other cities, according to Al Jazeera’s reporting. The demonstrations, centered on corruption, rising education costs and poor university conditions, have also become a broader demand for Rama’s resignation.

Riot police clashed with protesters outside the education ministry for a fourth straight day, using water cannon and tear gas as some demonstrators threw rocks and other objects. Al Jazeera reported that thousands of young people marched through the capital on Friday, with the unrest extending beyond Tirana to Elbasan, Shkodra and Korca. Local media cited by the report said some protesters broke windows and burned rubbish bins, while police said 160 people were detained on Thursday evening over alleged violence.

The protests have evolved from earlier, largely peaceful demonstrations into more destructive scenes that have targeted government buildings and banks. Al Jazeera said the movement originally grew out of anger over the sale of part of Albania’s coastline to a luxury resort project linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump. The reported escalation matters because it is adding pressure on Rama, whose government denies corruption, at a time when Albania is seeking progress toward European Union membership.