Albanian protesters block roads, demanding end to new highway tolls

TIRANA: Protesters burned tyres and blocked four main highways in Albania on Thursday to demand that authorities scrap new toll fees on the main road linking the impoverished Balkan country with Kosovo.

The two-hour protest followed the torching of toll booths on the highway on Saturday by demonstrators angered by the imposition of fees to use the road. Traffic has since resumed, without tolls being paid.

Twenty-three people were arrested after clashes with police and will face trial. Opposition leaders have seized on anger over the road tolls to launch what they call a wave of civil disobedience, asking Albanians to refuse to pay several taxes on the ground, they say, that the government collects them to enrich its cronies.

"We want the release of 11 Kukes residents held in jail unjustly and to scrap the road fee on the ‘Nation’s Road’. This is just the beginning of a popular revolt against your private and criminal regime," opposition Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha said, addressing Prime Minister Edi Rama.

The government says the tolls are necessary to pay for the modernisation, including the widening of two bridges, of the highway winding through difficult mountainous terrain. The project is an infrastructure priority for Tirana as the highway is the key overland artery between Albania and Kosovo, a mainly ethnic Albanian country.