Albania: Protesters Converge On Tirana, Demand Resignation of Edi Rama

Thousands of demonstrators converged in Tirana to demand the resignation of Albania's Socialist prime minister.

The protesters, led by the opposition Democratic Party, pitched tents on February 18 outside Prime Minister Edi Rama's office to demand his resignation and for a caretaker government to take power and guarantee free elections.

"Rama's government must go, the time has come to overthrow it!" Lulzim Basha of the center-right Democratic Party told the crowd.

"He has plunged the country into poverty and corruption, has led it into an impasse, forcing many Albanians to leave their country," Basha said.

"I invite you all to stay together to achieve holding of free and fair elections that will come only after the replacement of this government of crime with a caretaker government to the free polls," he added.

No official estimates of crowd size were...