---
title: "Student Protest in Albania Turns Violent as Police Answer Bricks With Tear Gas"
description: "Hundreds of students threw concrete blocks at the Education Ministry in Tirana; officers detained several protesters and used water cannon."
author: "rews desk"
published: 2026-10-14T06:46:31Z
modified: 2026-10-14T15:21:55Z
url: https://rews.cc/a/student-protest-in-albania-turns-violent-as-police-answer-br-80beb7
language: en
tags: ["politics", "education", "inequality", "protests", "riots", "europe"]
publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)"
---

# Student Protest in Albania Turns Violent as Police Answer Bricks With Tear Gas

*Hundreds of students threw concrete blocks at the Education Ministry in Tirana; officers detained several protesters and used water cannon.*

By rews desk · October 14, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/student-protest-in-albania-turns-violent-as-police-answer-br-80beb7

## In brief

- Students clashed with police in Tirana on Tuesday during a nationwide protest over education costs and inequality
- Demonstrators threw bricks and concrete blocks at the Education Ministry; police used tear gas and water cannon
- Several protesters were detained; organizers cited poor university conditions and bleak job prospects
- Deputy Prime Minister Albana Kociu said on Facebook that violence “will never be a solution”
- The protest follows weeks of student activism across Europe, including high school blockades in France

Student protests over education costs and social inequality in Albania turned violent on Tuesday, as demonstrators in Tirana hurled bricks and concrete blocks at the Education Ministry and the police answered with tear gas and water cannon.

Hundreds of students joined the march in the capital, and the confrontation spread into nearby streets after security forces moved in, [Al Jazeera reported](https://aljazeera.com/gallery/2026/10/14/photos-student-protest-in-albania-spark-violent-clashes-with-police-forces). Police detained several protesters. How many were injured, if any, was not clear.

Student organizers said the nationwide protest grew out of deteriorating conditions at the country’s universities, high education costs and limited financial support, along with bleak employment prospects after graduation. Some demonstrators also voiced anger at widening inequality and a political system they see as failing the young.

“What Albania needs is a revolution, a change, a complete overthrow of the system because it can’t go on like this,” one protester, Luljeta Kola, said. She described what she called “deep social injustice” and a growing gulf between rich and poor.

The government condemned the unrest. “Violence has not been, is not, and will never be a solution,” Deputy Prime Minister Albana Kociu wrote on Facebook. She offered no concessions in her post.

The demonstration in Tirana lands in the middle of a broader wave of student activism across Europe. In France, high school students have held weeks of protests and blockades.