The police in Albania used a water cannon trick and teargas to disperse protesters who broke into the headquarters of the country's main opposition party in an internal dispute over the party's leadership.
Scores of officers pushed back hundreds of demonstrators who had stormed the ground floor of the centre-right Democratic party headquarters. The authorities said 25 of the trespassers and eight party staff were arrested as the two sides clashed.
A group led by former party leader Sali Berisha used iron bars and hammers to break open the main doors of the building. Employees fired teargas to try to prevent them breaking in before the police intervened at the party's request.
According to Lorenc Panganika, head of police in Tirana, at least one civilian and a police officer were wounded. More civilians appeared to be recovering from the teargas or clashes, according to television coverage.
Berisha is trying to remove the Democrats leader, Lulzim Basha, whom he accuses of being a traitor and hostage of the prime minister Edi Rama of the leftist party. Basha threw Berisha out of the party's parliamentary caucus in September.
In a statement, the Democratic party said that today s acts of violence against the Democratic party mark Sali Berisha's final isolation and a shameful move out of the political scene. After three hours, Berisha said he and his supporters would begin a nationwide campaign to dismantle the narco-government Prosecutors, which opened an investigation into the protest violence. The US ambassador to Albania Yuri Kim expressed concern at the rising tensions at the Democrats building and called for protesters to exercise calm and not violence. Basha condemned what he called Sali Berisha's criminal organisation, which tried to usurp the Democrats headquarters to be protected from his non grata designation. In December, Berisha s parliamentary grouping claimed to have held a referendum removing Basha from his post, but the move was not recognised by the Democratic party.
Berisha, 77, served as Albania's prime minister from 2005 to 2013 and as president from 1992 -- 1997. He was re-elected as a lawmaker for the Democratic party in the April 2021 parliamentary election.
The US government imposed sanctions on Berisha last year. In May, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said that during Berisha's 2005 -- 2013 tenure as prime minister the politician was involved in corruption and had used his power for his own benefit and to enrich his political allies and his family members Blinken also accused Berisha of interfering in independent investigations, anti-corruption efforts, and accountability measures. He said that Berisha's corrupt acts undermined democracy in Albania Fighting corruption has been the Achilles heel of post-communist Albania, which has a significant influence on the country's democratic, economic and social development. Berisha was the fourth top Albanian official to be barred from entering the United States because of alleged involvement in corruption.
Last month, the US deputy assistant secretary of state Gabriel Escobar said there would be consequences if the Democratic party chose a leader Washington had designated as persona non grata.