TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian opposition lawmakers protested in parliament Thursday, burning effigies and clashing with bodyguards, after one of their colleagues was convicted of defamation and jailed.
Conservative Democratic lawmakers, who had called for a boycott of Thursday’s session, tried to ban their colleagues from the ruling Socialist Party from entering the chamber.
They were protesting the jailing of Ervin Salianji, who in 2018 demanded the resignation of the then-interior minister over allegations of his brother’s illegal activities that were later found to be fabricated.
Salianji, who began serving a one-year prison sentence last week, has appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court.
Democrats disrupted a parliamentary session on Monday. They said Salianji’s conviction was politically motivated and called for protests in the capital Tirana from next week. Twenty-four Democrats were punished for the protest with suspensions of ten to sixty days.
On Thursday, Democrats clashed with bodyguards and burned in effigy four of the ruling Socialists, including Prime Minister Edi Rama and Interior Minister Fatmir Xhafaj.
After failing to enter the chamber, opposition lawmakers ended their protest and soon after their socialist counterparts closed the session and left.
The opposition has called for a national protest next Monday in Tirana, calling on its supporters to take part in civil disobedience.
Democrats have long accused Rama’s socialists of usurping power, including the judiciary, and have staged violent protests against the government since 2013.
In addition, Rama is undergoing surgery for an inguinal hernia at Mother Teresa University Hospital, where he is expected to spend the night, his office said Thursday.
Rama, 60, has led the Socialists since 2005 and is now in his third term as prime minister, which he has served since 2013.
Albania will hold parliamentary elections next year.
The European Union and the United States have urged the opposition to resume dialogue with the government, saying force will not help the country integrate into the European bloc.
In 2020, the EU decided to start full membership negotiations with Albania, and later this month Tirana will begin talks with the bloc on the country’s relationship with the rule of law, the functioning of democratic institutions and the fight against corruption.
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