The new parliamentary session began this Tuesday with a familiar scene in Albanian politics: debate inside the chamber and tension outside it. Protesters gathered in front of Parliament, while police set up a strong security perimeter and carried out the first detentions.
Tensions outside Parliament from the start of the sitting
The protest took place in parallel with the opening of the plenary sitting, turning the area around Parliament into the main focal point of the day’s political confrontation.
According to the official version, police had sealed off the area and intervened after some of the protesters breached the security perimeter. The first detentions to the police station were recorded on the ground.
Clashes with police and eggs thrown
During the tensions outside the Parliament building, protesters threw eggs at police officers.
The intervention by law enforcement came in an already heated climate, while it remains to be seen whether the security measure was proportionate to the situation created during the protest.
New session opens amid a climate of political conflict
The start of the new parliamentary session did not come on normal political ground. The sitting was preceded by strong debates in the Conference of Chairpersons.
At the center of the political clash has been the issue of the salaries of judges and prosecutors, a topic that had already heightened tensions between the sides even before the official opening of Parliament’s work.
The image of the day was clearly divided in two: Parliament opening the new session and a protest outside, surrounded by strong police measures.
Instead of a calm institutional start, the parliamentary session was marked from the first hours by clashes, detentions and a heated political climate.