Demonstrators broke into the building of Albania's Education Ministry in Tirana and set a fire inside it, according to police. The capital saw two consecutive days of confrontation between students and riot police, who used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds. Together, the two days produced 39 arrests.
Reuters described the episode as the most violent outburst in a wave of protests running in the country since May.
Two days, two tallies
On Tuesday the 13th, hundreds of students gathered in front of the ministry. According to police, some demonstrators threw bricks and concrete blocks at the building and set a barricade alight; some used Molotov cocktails, firecrackers and stones against officers. The police tally for the day was 23 arrests, six officers injured and one journalist injured.
On Wednesday the 14th, thousands returned to the front of the ministry. Demonstrators tore out pavement railings to block a street, overturned bins and set rubbish containers on fire. The ministry building caught fire, and a nearby Raiffeisen Bank branch was also hit by the flames. Police reported another 16 arrests.
Sources differ on how to count the days of mobilisation: Al Jazeera treated Wednesday as the third consecutive day of protests, while Reuters described it as the second.
What the students want
Organisers say the mobilisation is about conditions at universities, the cost of higher education, the lack of financial support for students and job prospects after graduation. At the rallies, that agenda was joined by a blunter demand: the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama, in power since 2013.
"Albania needs a revolution, a change, a complete overthrow of the system," demonstrator Luljeta Kola told Al Jazeera.
The government condemns the violence
Deputy Prime Minister Albana Kociu condemned the attacks in a Facebook post. She said protest is a legitimate right but cannot justify violence or the destruction of the city, and urged citizens to distance themselves from vandalism. "Violence has not been, is not, and will never be a solution," she wrote.
From a resort to a nationwide wave
The student mobilisation fits into a longer cycle. Since May, Tirana has seen near-daily rallies — a movement nicknamed the "Flamingo Revolution", born out of opposition to a resort project in a protected area in the south of the country linked to Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US President Donald Trump. Protesters alleged corruption and a lack of transparency in the permitting.
Besar Likmeta, an editor at the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), told Al Jazeera that the demands broadened afterwards to include anti-corruption measures and opportunities for young people. Albania is a candidate for European Union membership, and the progress of those negotiations counts the quality of institutions and the fight against corruption among the criteria the bloc assesses.
With information from Al Jazeera, Reuters and Anadolu Agency.
