Albania opposition urges supporters to protest

Opposition Socialist Party leader Edi Rama delivers his address during a meeting in Tirana. AP photo.

Albanian Socialist leader Edi Rama has called on his party's supporters to unleash a series of protests that will culminate in a major rally in Tirana on April 30, the Albanian media reported on Wednesday.

Speaking at the opening of the Socialist Party’s National Assembly, Rama accused the right-wing government of Prime Minister Sali Berisha of being responsible “for the democratic and economic crisis” that the country finds itself in, adding the protest was the only option left.

“This regime without a future is holding Albania hostage with the weapons of the past,” Rama told the delegates in his opening statement, which was also broadcasted live by local media.

The wave of protests that the Socialists plan to launch throughout the country aim to force early elections; the opposition party has spent the past nine months contesting the results of the June 28 parliamentary poll, which they consider to be marred by fraud, and boycotting parliament.

“Every day a protest in every city and on April 30 we will meet up in Tirana,” Rama said. “United we will bring this regime to the end that it deserves; a regime which everyday gives people less hope and fewer jobs,” he added.

In the last few days Socialist leaders have intensified their public calls for protests to overthrow the government, which comes amid a tense political climate fueled by accusations of corruption and personal jibes coming from both sides.