Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has followed online the protest against him on Saturday, with reports that he has not been at the Prime Minstry, in front of which thousands gathered to request his resignation in favor of a caretaker government.
Rama posted a video online with video footage from the protest against him, saying even that was a source of “pride” fro the government.
“Only six years before, Ziveri, Hekurani, Aleksi and Faiku were killed by the state’s rifles captured by power, precisely at the boulevard where a protest is being held at the moment,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
Back in Jan. 21, 2011, the Edi Rama led Socialist Party was protesting in front of government building when Democratic Party was in power. The protest turned violent and four protesters were killed in front of the prime ministry.
“We will follow and hear with respect any minority discontent, but we will not stop even for a minute in fulfilling our mission of making state,” Rama said.
Thousands of people marched Saturday in capital Tirana, in a protest called by Democratic Party led opposition forces, calling for a caretaker government.
“Today we take the decision to stop once and for all the masquerade of election robbery. We will either hold free elections, or there will be no elections,” Democratic Party leader, Lulzim Basha warned. “There will be no middle way. There is no other way!”
“I will stay here at the square, we invite you all to stay together for the free and fair elections that will come only by driving out the government of crime,” he said adding that their request is: “A caretaker government to guarantee free and fair elections. That is my decision!”
Free and fair elections are EU’s main condition for the Albanian government to start the accession negotiations.
The small Balkan county, a NATO member since 2009, has been granted the candidate status to join the European Union. /tvklan.al
