A MAJOR opposition protest in Albania to commemorate three people shot dead in a rally last week has passed off peacefully after the European Union warned that further violence could put the country’s membership ambitions at risk.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators proceeded in silence through the centre of the capital, Tirana.
They laid flowers and candles at the place the protesters were shot, outside a government building heavily guarded by police and other members of the security forces.
The opposition movement, spearheaded by Tirana mayor and Socialist party chief Edi Rama, want a rerun of 2009 elections that they say were rigged by prime minister Sali Berisha. He has dominated post-communist Albanian politics but is accused by critics of presiding over massive corruption.
Mr Berisha blamed the opposition for last week’s deaths and supported the army unit that his opponents say fired on protesters. His officials also refused to guarantee the safety of yesterday’s march and called it a threat to national security.
Mr Rama, who rejects Mr Berisha’s claim that he tried to launch a coup, cancelled plans to address the crowd amid fears that the tense atmosphere could explode into a repeat of the previous week’s violence, the worst seen in Albania for a decade.
Envoys from the EU, the US and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe have urged the government and opposition to enter negotiations for the peaceful resolution of their differences, warning of grave consequences if instability escalated.
