Watch: Socialists and Democrats Trigger Chaotic Brawl in European Nation's Parliament
Violence erupted inside the Albanian Parliament on Thursday, mirroring the situation in the streets outside.
According to the Cyprus-based news outlet Politis, MPs from the ruling Socialist Party clashed with colleagues from the opposition Democratic Party.
A 53-second clip, posted to the social media platform X, captured the chaotic scene.
The clip began with a two-handed shove, followed seconds later by the throwing of a green voting card. From there, colleagues tried to separate combatants.
Amid violent protests in #Albania, opposition and ruling majority MPs physically clashed in Parliament this Thursday.
#Protest https://t.co/uIHtHYi6K1— Isa Myzyraj (@IsamyzyrajAlb) October 22, 2026
Politis reported that the brawl began when Democratic MP Flamur Noka tried to take voting cards from his Socialist colleagues.
Then, as seen in the video above, Democratic Party MP Fidel Kreka shoved Socialist MP Ervin Hoxha. The two MPs went at each other before colleagues and members of the parliamentary guard intervened to separate them.
The Kreka-Hoxha brawl represented the culmination of a tense session that also featured opposition Democrats blocking the parliamentary podium to prevent the ruling Socialists from conducting business as usual.
Meanwhile, outside in the streets of Tirana, Albania’s capital city, violent anti-government protests have unfolded for more than a week.
In fact, according to the Associated Press, police on Tuesday used tear gas and water cannons against protesters, including high school and university students demanding lower tuition and major education reform.
That student movement has reportedly merged with a broader anti-government protest demanding the resignation of Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.
“In the morning, you try to coordinate with all the groups — where they are, and where the protest is taking place,” 27-year-old master’s student and activist Sidorela Vatnikaj said, according to the BBC. “If any lawyers are needed, if any first aid kit or any kind of equipment is needed. And you also have to make sure all your friends, your family members in the protest are OK.”
As for grievances, Vatnikaj specifically cited Rama’s lengthy tenure —- he has spent 13 years in power — and his government’s indifference to the people’s plight.
“I have seen my mother and father’s generation, working all their lives and dreaming of having a democratic society where they could live with dignity. That never happened,” she lamented.
Vatnikaj did not endorse the hurling of rocks and other dangerous projectiles at police. But neither did she condemn her fellow protesters who have felt unheard and brutalized by the state.
Rama, on the other hand, pledged never to yield to violent protesters.
“A wave of stones, an attempt to overthrow the government and change those in power through the imposition of violence — something that will never be allowed to happen, in any form or for any reason,” the prime minister said Tuesday, according to the AP.
Albania stands as one of several European countries rocked by protests in recent weeks, most notably France.
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