Albanian opposition protests against "devilish Serbia"

Protesters supporting the leader of Albania's main opposition Democratic Party gathered at the party's headquarters on Monday and marched on Prime Minister Edi Rama's office, condemning a meeting in Albania of the three leaders of countries supporting the Open Balkans initiative, BIRN reported.

Some of them hoisted Serbian flags, calling the initiative a "devilish" attempt to establish Serbian hegemony over the Balkans. "The Devil's Open Balkans project is an adventurous attempt to oppose the Berlin initiative," said Sally Berisha, referring to an earlier move by Germany to revive ties between the Balkans and the EU.

 Berisha called for a "national protest" against the Open Balkans initiative and the Incinerators affair after a stormy weekend when he tried to fire incumbent Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha in a referendum.

"Today Tirana and Albania will protest against the tripartite alliance Belgrade-Tirana-Skopje, Open Balkans - Vucic-Rama-Zaev! "Against the embezzlement of 430 million euros by the Medusa leader [targeting Prime Minister Rama] and his government thieves," Berisha wrote on Facebook.

 He said the main reason for the protest was that Serbian President Vucic had never asked for forgiveness for Serbian war crimes against Albanians in Kosovo in the 1990s.

The Open Balkans project strengthens Serbia and shows that Rama is Vucic's puppet, he said.

Another separate issue for the protest, he continued, is the so-called "incinerator issue"; last week, former environment minister Lefter Coca was arrested for corruption related to waste incineration contracts.

 Launched two years ago, originally called the Balkan Mini Schengen scheme, the Open Balkans project aims to move people, capital and goods freely in the Balkans, reflecting the EU's Schengen area without passports. So far, only Albania, Serbia and Macedonia have joined.