TIRANA, Oct. 17 /ATA/ – Clashes and acts of violence marked Saturday’s protest outside the prime minister’s office along Tirana’s Martyrs of the Nation Boulevard, involving students, high school pupils and other citizens.
According to police, protesters attacked police’s Eagle unit officers and Rapid Intervention Force personnel with hard objects, stone slabs, metal objects, metal ball bearings fired from slingshots, pyrotechnics and Molotov cocktails. Police responded with repeated volleys of tear gas.
Addressing the use of rubber bullets, State Police Director General Skënder Hita said earlier on Saturday that, as in European Union countries, police used equipment authorised by law and standard operating procedures to maintain public order and safety and protect officers. He said the use of such equipment was governed by the legal framework and the level of risk.
Further police officers and civilians were injured in the clashes.
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