TIRANA, Albania (AP) – Tens of thousands of Albanians protested on Saturday against their government’s economic policies, including tax and energy price increases.
The demonstration on the main boulevard of Tirana, the capital, also demanded action against the country’s unemployment rate of nearly 18 percent.
The protest, which ended peacefully at mid-afternoon, was held by supporters of the main opposition Democratic Party and its leader, Tirana Mayor Lulzim Basha.
He has accused the governing Socialists of taking the country into recession, and his party’s legislators have been boycotting Parliament since September, saying the coalition government is ignoring their complaints.
“The country is in recession and the recession was caused by the government,” Basha said in a speech to the protesters from a podium raised in front of Prime Minister Edi Rama’s office. “Tax increase is no solution.”