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Albanian student protests turn violent
Several hundred protesters gathered near Prime Minister Edi Rama's office, and others marched toward the Ministry of Education. They are protesting poor education facilities, rising living costs, and alleged government corruption. Police pushed them back with tear gas and water cannon, and dozens of people have been injured.
Many of the protesters are university and high school students, and they have thrown stones, firecrackers, and sometimes Molotov cocktails at police guarding government buildings in several parts of Tirana. Rama has repeatedly condemned the violence and said he will negotiate with students over legitimate demands about universities and higher education. He has resisted calls to resign and has blamed the violence on the opposition Democratic Party and on what he calls foreign actors, without specifying who they are.
Why do Albanian students lead protests?
Students helped end communism in Albania. In December 1990, protests began at the University of Tirana, and the government soon allowed opposition parties. In February 1991, crowds in Tirana pulled down the large statue of the dictator Enver Hoxha. The first multiparty elections followed in March 1991.
Why is a petrol bomb called a Molotov cocktail?
The name comes from Finnish soldiers during the Winter War of 1939 and 1940, when the Soviet Union invaded Finland. They mocked Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov, who had claimed Soviet planes were dropping food rather than bombs. The Finns called the cluster bombs bread baskets and the petrol bombs a cocktail to go with them. Finland's state alcohol company, Alko, produced them in the hundreds of thousands.
How does tear gas make crowds disperse?
The common agent in riot-control tear gas is CS, a compound first made in 1928 by the US chemists Ben Corson and Roger Stoughton. It irritates the eyes, nose, throat, and skin on contact, causing tearing, coughing, and burning. The abbreviation CS comes from the initials of the two chemists' surnames.
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