Thousands of people rallied in Tirana on Saturday, October 24, at a fresh anti-government rally called by student organisers and backed by groups representing university professors, artists and opposition parties, AFP reported. The crowd gathered around 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) in front of the education ministry, which has become a focal point of the protests, Reuters reported. Soon after the rally began, a group of demonstrators hurled stones at the ministry building, many of whose windows had been smashed in previous days, an AFP reporter at the scene said, and Reuters reported that protesters also started a fire at the door of the agriculture ministry. Riot police responded with water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets, both agencies reported; AFP said some protesters used fireworks against the security forces. Protesters told AFP some people on their side were slightly injured; police did not reply to a request for information on their own casualties.

Source: Reuters, Oct 24, 2026

The student-led demonstrations, fuelled by anger over perceived government corruption, a lack of jobs and poor education standards, have engulfed central Tirana and spread to other cities this month, Reuters reported, and protesters and police have clashed routinely since mid-October after a period in which the situation had calmed in recent days, AFP said. "Albanians have woken up," Daniel Tahiri, 28, told Reuters, describing the government as a "dictatorship with the clothes of democracy." Orgeta Likaj, 29, told Reuters people wanted Prime Minister Edi Rama to know Albanians no longer want him because of corruption and scandals. "There is a lot of anger," activist Sidorela Vatnikaj told AFP, calling the movement a "revolution": "It's not only a matter of students. It's not only a matter of environmental struggles... It's a matter of the state of rights and state of law." Rosela Mira, a first-year medical student, told AFP: "We are here for one reason: we want to stay in our country and not have to dream of a life elsewhere. I want to have a future here." Many shops had closed ahead of the protest, AFP said, some with signs on their shutters reading: "Don't touch. We're with you."

Source: AFP, Oct 24, 2026

The authorities say more than 300 protesters and police have been injured since mid-October and dozens of demonstrators have been detained, and several government buildings have been attacked, AFP reported. On Saturday, red cushions laid around an improvised concrete table outside the government headquarters — a symbolic offer of dialogue — remained empty and were later set on fire by hundreds of protesters, AFP reported. Demonstrators, who distance themselves from any political party, chanted "Rama in prison" and "Berisha in prison" on Saturday, blaming the whole political class, including longtime opposition leader Sali Berisha, AFP said. Rama has blamed "foreign actors" for the violence and accused Russia and Iran of driving online misinformation — claims the reports cited here do not independently confirm — and he earlier published photos of around 40 people, identified by their initials, whom he accused of violence, while renewing his call for the heads of dozens of public institutions to resign, AFP reported.

Source: AFP, Oct 24, 2026

The unrest began as months of largely peaceful summer protests against a luxury coastal development backed by an investment firm founded by Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, and has since morphed into a broader push against corruption with continuing demands that Rama step down, both agencies reported. Rama has governed since 2013 and won a fourth term last year, Reuters noted, and the protests are the biggest challenge yet to his rule. AFP put Albania's average salary before tax at 930 euros (about $1,026) a month and noted that more than 1.5 million people have left the country of 2.3 million since the fall of communism in the 1990s — the emigration drain the student protesters say they are marching against.

Source: Reuters, Oct 24, 2026