Contrary to the warnings of the State Police and the threats of Prime Minister Edi Rama, the opposition protests on the national roads of Albania today have led to no arrests, nor violence.
At 11:00 opposition protesters occupied five crucial intersections in the country, blocking traffic for about an hour. At Sheshi Shqiponja in Tirana, at the beginning of the highway toward Durrës, PD leader Lulzim Basha stated that this protest showed
the determination not to give up Albania to crime and drugs and our freedom to tyranny and corruption. […] We have united hundreds of thousands, millions of Albanians from the south to the north for free and fair elections, with a caretaker government.
The blockade of the roads is an escalation of the tactics used by the opposition, which since February 18 has blocked the main boulevard in Tirana with a large protest tent in front of the Prime Ministry.
The State Police, which refused to approve the protests, claims to have used video technology to record and identify those who attended in the protests. In Fier, at the roundabout of Plug, there was a scramble between protesters and the police.
Both National Ombudsman Igli Totozani, and experts from foreign embassies are said to have been present at the different protests to monitor the behavior of the protesters and the police.
From Apollonia, Prime Minister Edi Rama responded to the protest stating that
it is not time to block the roads of Albania, blocking people who want to move freely on the roads of the country, but it is time to finally open the road to make a modern democratic and European state.
