Opposition demonstrators in Albania threw firebombs and rocks at a government building in Tirana late Tuesday, accusing government officials of involvement in organized crime and corruption after their leader, former president and prime minister Sali Berisha, was arrested at his home.

As News.ro reports with reference to Reuters, there is no information about victims, serious damage or arrests yet.

Thousands of people gathered outside the government headquarters in the Albanian capital, and police were called in to guard the office of Prime Minister Edi Rama.

The main opposition Democratic Party accuses Edi Rama of nepotism and corruption, causing many young people to emigrate in search of a better life in Western Europe.

Protesters chose Tuesday to rally in memory of February 20, 1991, when pro-democracy demonstrators toppled a monument to Albania’s communist dictator Enver Hoxha.

“Today we are here to topple Rama’s regime, which is worse than Enver Hoxha’s,” said Sile Cebekshia, who said he had traveled more than 100km to take part in the protest in Tirana.

Opposition leader Sali Berisha addressed the protesters via video link from house arrest. He is being investigated for allegations of corruption during his tenure as prime minister in 2005-2013.

Berisha has denied any wrongdoing, accusing Rama of a political vendetta designed to silence opponents. Rama denies this.

The prosecutor’s office has not yet decided whether to file formal charges against Berisha or drop them.

“Edi Rama, like the other dictator (Khoxha), has concentrated all the power in his hands and wants an Albania without opposition,” Berisha told the protesting crowd.

Berisha, who was the country’s president in the tumultuous years after Hoxha was ousted from power between 1992 and 1997, regularly addressed supporters from the balcony of his apartment in central Tirana.

Prosecutors accuse 79-year-old Berisha of using his influence as prime minister between 2005 and 2009 to favor his daughter’s husband in the privatization of state-owned land.

In 2021, the United States banned Berisha and his family from entering the country, and the State Department accused him of engaging in “corrupt actions” while serving as prime minister, using his power for his own interests and to enrich his own. relatives and political figures. allies

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visited Tirana last week. Blinken met with Albanian leaders and focused on the future of the Western Balkans as Albania and several of its neighbors seek to join the European Union. The United States has praised Albania’s leadership and its recent role in the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member.

Albania is a member of NATO and regularly sends small military units to international peacekeeping missions and NATO operations.

At the end of this month, an international summit for Ukraine will be held in Albania, in which the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi is expected to participate.