BERLIN (Dispatches) – Police and protesters in Albania have scuffled in front of Prime Minister Edi Rama‘s office in Tirana after tens of thousands of people gathered there to protest against corruption and the country’s cost of living crisis.
After demonstrating peacefully for about three hours, protesters broke through police cordons around Rama’s office on Saturday and sprayed red and black paint on the main doors to the government building.
Police arrested one protester.
Others lit candles in memory of two men that, according to the opposition, died while in police custody.
Albania has seen an 8 percent price hike this year, especially for basic food and fuel, following the war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, thousands of people in Germany held a massive demonstration in the capital Berlin, calling for food prices to be controlled and for the rich to pay higher taxes as Germany faces a cost of living crisis.
The Saturday demonstration came after a call by left-wing organizations that urged the German people to protest against soaring prices and rents.
The demonstrators in Berlin marched behind banners, one of which was emblazoned with the demand “Redistribute!” Other banners said the current economic order “puts profits over people’s needs.”
Both police and organizers said at least 3,000 people took part in the protest, which took place to the backdrop of rising inflation caused in part by the war in Ukraine that has hit energy and food supplies.
Inflation in Germany is at its highest level in more than 70 years and reached 10.4 percent in October, according to figures released on Friday.
The price rises are hitting household budgets as well as industry in the eurozone’s largest economy.
The government, which is forecasting a 0.4 percentage point contraction in GDP next year, has sought mitigate surging energy prices, imposing a partial cap on the price of gas and electricity that will come into force in 2023.
Most of the other mitigating measures, including subsidized rail travel, have already ended.
On Wednesday, German economic experts proposed raising taxes on higher earners to help households struggling with soaring energy bills, but the suggestion was immediately shot down by the country’s finance minister.
Also on Saturday, hundreds of protesters angry about the climate crisis took to the streets of Lisbon, with dozens storming a building where Portugal’s Economy Minister Antonio Costa e Silva was speaking, demanding that the former oil executive resign.
Holding banners and chanting slogans, protesters demanded climate action. As some demonstrators broke into the building, those outside shouted, “Out Costa e Silva!”