Albanian MPs brawl, ignite smoke-bomb setting papers on fire in parliament

A plenary session in the Albanian parliament turned into a full blown ruckus after the opposition MPs ignited smoke bomb, setting the papers on the table on fire. MPs accused the ruling government of trying to silence their voices as they attempted the chamber voting on the 2024. Standing in the middle of the brawling parliament, the Democratic Party of Albanian MP, Flamur Noka, held a smoke bomb in the centre of the chamber.

The lawmakers slammed the authoritarian rule by the governing Socialists and lit the flares. The Democratic lawmakers piled chairs on top of each other and launched scathing verbal attacks at each other. Prosecutors in Albania, last month, charged ex Prime Minister and de-facto leader of the 79 year old DPA Aali Berisha and his son-in-law, with corruption over a land deal that has been a topic of discord amongst the lawmakers. A small fire was ignited inside the parliament as the lawmakers made efforts to block the chamber from voting with respect to the 2024 budget in November. Albanian opposition lawmakers blocked left-wing Socialists of Prime Minister Edi Rama from taking seat.

Cordon of bodyguards jostle with parliamentarians

The argument ensued as soon as the Prime Minister Edi Rama pushed for a vote on next year’s budget. The cordon of bodyguards made attempts to stop the lawmakers from coming in the vicinity of the seats of the Cabinet. The opposition lawmakers demanded a parliamentary investigative commissions to probe the corruption allegations of top government officials.

The Albanian Socialists argued that the Opposition’s demands of an investigation does not stand in line with constitution. One of the opposition lawmakers, Gazmend Bardhi, said that the party will not allow the normal functioning of the parliament. “Our battle is to show to each citizen that this is not the Parliament representing them,” Bardhi was quoted as saying.

The head of the Socialists’ parliamentary grouping, Bledi Cuci, said that the ruling government was approving the largest budget that is twice the size of the budget of 2013. “In democracy, the opposition speaks with alternatives and not with flares,” he was quoted as saying. “In democracy, the opposition speaks with alternatives and not with flares,” the Cuci said.