Albania's main opposition party disturbs parliament session by smoke bomb

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - The Albanian Parliament session on Thursday was blocked by opposition MPs to erupt discussion of some legislative amendments.

Deputies from the main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Albania, placed chairs in front of the podium and threw smoke bombs to prevent the discussions in the parliament.

Albanian Parliament Speaker Lindita Nikolla described the events as "a shame for the Albanian parliament."

Despite all the tension in the parliament, MPs approved some bills, and then Parliament Speaker Nikolla ended the session.

Opposition MPs had previously prevented the sessions from starting by occupying the area allocated for ministers and parliamentary administrators to sit.

Stating that the protests would continue, the MPs argued that the parliament was not an institution of the government.

The parliament moved to online sessions on Wednesday after physical clashes that took place on Monday between the MPs.

The clashes came after proposals to set up six parliamentary inquiry commissions were not accepted by parliament and after six opposition MPs were temporarily banned from participating in sessions by the head of parliament.