Violent Tirana protest injures 27, including police and a diplomat

Violent clashes between protesters and police left at least 27 people injured in central Tirana on Tuesday, Albanian outlets Koha and Insajderi reported, after a demonstration that began in the afternoon stretched into the night.

Rioters broke away from the main protest into small groups, setting fire to rubbish bins and billboards and torching a bank branch next to the Vatican's embassy, Italian news agency ANSA reported. Police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse the crowds. A group later broke into Tirana's city hall in the city centre; the occupation lasted only a few minutes before police retook the building, ANSA said.

Casualty figures have varied through the day. Albania's health ministry initially said 13 people, including protesters, journalists, police officers and passers-by, had sought medical treatment at the QSUT and Trauma university hospitals. ANSA later cited officials giving a toll of at least 17 injured, including six police officers, two journalists and one foreign diplomat; Koha and Insajderi put the overall figure at 27 by Wednesday morning. More than 40 people were detained, ANSA said. The head of Trauma hospital's emergency unit said no one had died and no patients needed intubation.

Among the injured was a 19-year-old, identified only by the initials L.B., who had surgery for a broken leg, Gazeta Express reported. He told Euronews Albania he had not been taking part in the protest and said police had beaten him; footage circulated showing him being escorted by officers near the parliament building.

Albania's state police suspended four officers and the head of public order at Police Commissariat No. 1, named only by the initials F.K., after the footage was published, and opened a disciplinary investigation through its Professional Standards Directorate. A special police task force was also set up to review officers' conduct during the protest, and the Police Oversight Agency and the prosecutor's office have separately opened investigations.

Police condemned the violence, property damage and arson during the protest, saying such acts were not connected to the peaceful exercise of the right to protest, and called on masked individuals and anyone carrying out violent acts to stop immediately.