WORLD NEWS | Albanian opposition leads anti-government protests

TIRANA (Albania), Feb. 11 (AP) — Thousands of supporters of Albania’s political opposition took part in an anti-government protest Saturday demanding that the prime minister be accused of corruption and the treatment of the small Balkan country’s economy. improperly resigned.

Former Albanian president and prime minister Sally Berisha, who leads the center-right Democratic Party, and former president Ilil Mehta, who leads the left-wing Freedom Party, were among the protesters who gathered in front of the main government building with banners and called for the ruling center-left Socialist prime minister Eddie Lamarr resigns.

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“It’s time for this revolution to take the corrupt money and turn it into higher wages and pensions,” Berisha said.

Protesters threw smoke bombs at the main entrance of the government building, and hundreds of police officers lined up to protect the building.

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Rama’s critics accuse him of corruption and hold him responsible for the exodus of young Albanians leaving the western European country in search of work. Rama said his cabinet had kept inflation low compared with the rest of Europe and subsidized electricity for households and small businesses.

The opposition also accused Rama of bribing former top FBI counterintelligence official Charles McGonigal, who is accused in the United States of withholding from the FBI key details of his trip to Albania in 2017 with a former Albanian intelligence officer, according to reports. claim to have paid him at least $225,000.

McGonigal met with Albania’s prime minister and urged caution in granting drilling licenses for oil fields in the country to Russian front companies.

Lamarr admitted to meeting with McGonigal but denied allegations that he was offered money or favorable treatment.

Not all opposition Democrats attended the protests, as Berisha’s party has been under fire after Secretary of State Anthony Blinken last year banned Berisha and his close relatives from entering the United States for “corrupt practices that undermine democracy” during his 2005-2013 tenure. Infighting has plagued him as prime minister.

The UK did the same last year.

On Monday, Berisha called for another protest in parliament. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)