By Fatos Bytyci
TIRANA, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Police in Albania fired what appeared to be rubber bullets at protesters on Saturday, the fifth day of mass student demonstrations demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama step down.
Reuters video footage showed police firing a shotgun towards crowds outside the education ministry during clashes with protesters. Reuters reporters found rubber pellets on the ground and pellets hit two Reuters journalists and several protesters, leaving round marks.
The incident marks an escalation in a confrontation between police and protesters that has engulfed central Tirana in recent days. Demonstrators have burned government buildings and banks and hurled rocks at police, who have responded with tear gas and water cannon.
Albania's police chief Skender Hita did not deny the use of rubber bullets when asked about it at a news conference on Saturday.
"All means that were used were employed in a limited manner, including the most recent ones," he said.
Hita said seven police officers have been suspended and were facing disciplinary investigations for "exceeding their authority" and "failure to respect the principle of proportionality" in dealing with protesters. He did not specify the incidents that led to the suspensions.
The demonstrations have been fuelled by anger over perceived government corruption, a lack of jobs and poor education standards. They have also drawn support from people who felt ignored during a summer of largely peaceful protest against a luxury coastal development backed by US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The unrest poses the biggest challenge yet to Rama, who last year won a fourth term in office.
"It's been 13 years of corruption and 13 years of doing nothing and empty promises. So the jar is filled and we are here for our rights," said Juri Taullahu, a 22-year-old medical student, on Saturday.
Police and the government condemned the unrest and called for calm.
Hita said that 1,067 people had been arrested and 388 criminally prosecuted. Scores of police officers and protesters have been injured.
KUSHNER-BACKED RESORT TRIGGERED SUMMER PROTESTS
Rama's administration has been dogged by corruption scandals, while analysts say Albania has become a hub for gangs seeking to launder money from drug and weapons trafficking, complicating the country's efforts to join the European Union.
Villagers told Reuters in July that their land had been wrongfully sold for the Kushner-backed development on a pristine stretch of coast in southern Albania. Reuters later reported that the man who sold the land was wanted by prosecutors on suspicion of drug trafficking, accusations his lawyer denied.
Reuters found no evidence of wrongdoing by Kushner, who is not directly involved in the villagers' dispute.
Rama, who denies wrongdoing and told Reuters this week that he would not step down, said on Saturday that his government respected the students and their right to protest.
"My responsibility is even clearer during these difficult times ... to protect our citizens, guarantee justice, and move Albania forward — together with this governing majority, which holds a very clear mandate: to see Albania in the European Union by 2030," he said on Facebook.
Along with Montenegro, Albania is leading the EU accession process among Balkan countries.
Albania's unrest coincides with growing street protests elsewhere in Europe.
In France, student protests demanding more teachers and better facilities have spread into a broader wave of unrest.
Spain has seen protests against high rents and a lack of housing, prompting the government to call a snap election.
(Writing by Angeliki Koutantou and Edward McAllister. Editing by Kevin Liffey and Mark Potter)
