Albania’s Education Ministry caught fire on Wednesday as student protests over corruption and education conditions entered a second consecutive day in the capital Tirana.
Police deployed riot units and used tear gas and water cannons in an effort to disperse thousands of demonstrators who had gathered in front of the ministry building.
Many protesters obscured their faces during the confrontations, with some throwing bricks at the ministry building, damaging sidewalk barriers, and overturning trash cans.
A bank located near the Education Ministry also caught fire, according to the Reuters news agency, which cited a witness to the incident.
The demonstrations began on Tuesday with a peaceful gathering of several hundred people outside the ministry before rapidly escalating into violence in multiple locations.
Police reported approximately 40 detentions and 13 people injured early Wednesday, including six police officers, with unrest continuing long after those figures were released.
Deputy Prime Minister Albana Kociu posted a video of the demonstrations on Facebook, calling it “disheartening to see the culture of protest degenerate into orchestrated violence.”
Kociu stated that the attacks on institutions and police and the “senseless destruction of public property” were “not the language through which the youth should express themselves.”
She added in a separate post that students who believe in the right to protest should “distance” themselves from “violence and vandalism,” urging restraint among genuine demonstrators.
Student organizers say the protests revolve around university conditions, higher education costs, financial support, and employment prospects after graduation.
The unrest represents one of the most significant outbursts of anti-corruption demonstrations directed at Prime Minister Edi Rama’s government and opposition leader Sali Barisha since protests began in May.
Albania has faced a broader wave of demonstrations throughout the year, sometimes referred to as the “Flamingo Revolution,” prompted in part by a controversial construction project in a protected coastal area on the Adriatic.
The protests have carried a general theme of dissatisfaction with Albania’s dominant political forces, as Rama’s Socialist Party and Barisha’s right-wing Democrats have alternated in government for more than 30 years since the post-Cold War democratic transition.
The timing has drawn international attention, coinciding with prominent coverage of widespread student protests in France that produced similarly restless scenes in recent weeks.
