Albanian opposition storms parliament, sets off flares and smoke bombs

The leader of Albania’s opposition has branded members of the government as “criminals”, while he and fellow lawmakers disrupted a parliamentary session by setting off flares and smoke bombs. Sali Berisha and other opposition members stormed parliament in the capital, Tirana, on Thursday in support of demonstrators , who are demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama’s resignation. Berisha and his colleagues unsuccessfully tried to prevent a vote on a new law governing the country’s central bank. “These [ruling lawmakers] are criminals and ⁠they deserve tear gas, rubber bullets, cracked skulls and broken bones, not the young people,” Berisha, leader of the Democratic Party of Albania, said.