Albania Pride Set To Go On Despite National Protest

The country's annual Pride bike ride will take place as protesters demonstrate against Prime Minister Edi Rama
From: NewNowNext

 Albanian LGBT rights groups have been assured by officials that the country’s annual pride event will go on as planned, in spite of the fact that a nationwide protest is scheduled for the same day.

The organizations were informed by Democratic party leader Lulzim Basha that there would be “no incidents or threats” during their Saturday bike ride in Tirana, which will start two hours before the opposition’s rally.

In Albania we are still fighting for a better country, for a better future. Day 80 of the opposition protest. #EuropeDay #Albania pic.twitter.com/VX5XTKpplW

— 'Kev (@ItsKevJs) May 9, 2017

According to Pulse, the right-wing opposition has been calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama for more than 18 months. His opponents accuse the Socialist politician of promoting cannabis cultivation in order to raise money and manipulate voter turnout.

Protesters recently gathered outside Rama’s office in Tirana, blocking the boulevard with signs reading “Rama Go!” and “We Want A Transitional Government!”

“The time has come to build a modern democratic European state and not block roads and institutions,” Rama said in response to the demonstration.

#Albania's opposition supporters erect tent to press election demands https://t.co/DrVC1xTGfe pic.twitter.com/K3trtEGnfZ

— Balkan Insight (@BalkanInsight) February 20, 2017

While the Pride bike route will avoid most contentious areas, participants will ride past a giant tent pitched outside Rama’s office by the opposition this past February.

“Let us stay together to have free and fair elections which we can only achieve by kicking out this government of crime and [replacing it with] the technocrat government of free elections,” Democratic leader Lulzim Basha said as the tent was raised.

“Free elections, or no elections at all.”

A NATO member and candidate to join the European Union, Albania has a long history of contested polls. Since the fall of communism in the early 1990s, the results of elections have often been challenged by the losing side, usually with street protests that sometimes turn violent.

In regards to LGBT rights, Albania passed anti-discrimination laws in 2010 and established a hate crime law in 2013, but homophobia is still rampant throughout much of the country.