Albanian students revolt over tuition cost

TIRANA: Thousands of Albanian university students took to Tirana’s streets on Tuesday for their biggest show of strength yet in a protest movement demanding lower tuition fees and more investment in public education. The protests, which kicked off last week, are the biggest mobilisation of university students since demonstrations in 1990 against the former communist regime, according to local media. “Our demands are not negotiable, the government must accept them or we will radicalise our movement,” Ilir Curri, a 21-year-old student from Shkodra University in the north, told AFP. Public university tuition fees range from 160 to 2,560 euros ($182-$2,916) annually in Albania, a poor country where the average salary is about 350 euros.