Student Protesters Clash With Albanian Riot Police for Fourth Day
Protests erupted in multiple countries on Friday as demonstrators in Albania clashed with riot police for a fourth day over corruption and education issues, while hundreds marched in Bangkok against IMF austerity demands and youth-led actions continued in India and Nigeria over electoral concerns.
Albanian Student Protests Turn Violent
Riot police clashed with protesters outside the education ministry for the fourth day in a row, as thousands of young Albanians marched through the capital, Tirana, on Friday to protest government corruption and poor university conditions. [2] Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has blamed “foreign hands” for the increasingly violent student-led protests that are calling on him to resign. [2] Rama said in a video address on Friday that “This is not a student phenomenon” and there were “foreign hands that do not wish for Albania to be at peace.” [2] He insisted that the protest had “absolutely nothing to do with the hardships, problems or legitimate aspirations of anyone who desires a better life.” [2] Police officers used water cannon and tear gas as demonstrators hurled rocks. [2] The protests have spread beyond the capital to Elbasan, Shkodra and Korca, where demonstrators broke windows and set fire to rubbish bins, local media reported. [2] The ongoing escalation follows months of mostly peaceful demonstrations, originally sparked by the sale of part of Albania’s coastline to a luxury resort development linked to Jared Kushner. [2] Days of unrest have increasingly targeted banks and government buildings. [2] Protesters hurled bricks and concrete blocks at the education ministry on Tuesday. [2] They also set fire to several buildings across the city, including the prime minister’s office, the finance and justice ministry buildings and branches of several banks. [2] According to a police statement, 160 people were detained over alleged acts of violence on Thursday evening. [2] Demonstrators are demanding Rama’s resignation, as well as electoral and education reforms. [2] The prime minister, whose government denies corruption, said he would be ready to discuss rising education costs but rejected the calls to resign. [2] He said on Thursday, “My responsibility is to listen, address legitimate concerns and keep Albania moving forward.” [2] His dismissal “would be a betrayal of the Albanians who gave me a strong mandate to complete negotiations on European Union membership,” he added. [2] Corruption scandals have complicated Albania’s efforts to join the EU. [2] Analysts say the country is a hub for gangs seeking to launder money from drugs and weapons trafficking. [2] Rama won a fourth term last year on promises to take Albania into the EU, aiming for membership as early as 2028. [2]
Bangkok March Targets IMF Austerity Push
Coconut farmer Sombat Chuekrod travelled more than 200 km to join hundreds on the streets of Bangkok on Friday demanding that the International Monetary Fund and World Bank change how they deal with the developing world. [4] Finance ministers, central bank governors and other top policymakers gathered this week in the Thai capital for the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings, as decision-makers tackle an inflation crisis fuelled by the US war on Iran and other economic shocks. [4] The message from the IMF has been clear: After years of economic crises starting with the pandemic and continuing through the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, worldwide debt is too high and governments need to cut spending. [4] For the hundreds at the protest in Bangkok, as well as for rights groups and analysts interviewed by AFP, that message is the wrong one. [4] “We want the IMF and World Bank to rethink their role,” said 51-year-old Sombat, as he walked alongside banners demanding reform of the institutions. [4] “Thai people are already poor. Please don't make them any poorer.” [4] Protest organisers called on institutions like the International Monetary Fund to focus on climate financing and tax reforms that aid poorer citizens, rather than demand governments cut subsidies and social spending. [4] “Governments across the Global South are being forced to squeeze vital spending on public health, education, and social protection just to service illegitimate debts to wealthy nations and private creditors,” Lidy Nacpil, one of the protest organisers, said in a statement. [4] Speaking to AFP on the sidelines of the meetings, Oxfam executive director Amitabh Behar said the world was facing an “inequality emergency”, and that the IMF's calls for fiscal consolidation were code for cutting spending on essential social support during the war-fuelled inflation crisis. [4] “It will lead to (more) price rises. It might lead to hunger,” he said. [4] “You will see cuts further happening in terms of health, in terms of education, in terms of basic social security. So all that is going to suffer in a time when you actually need it more.” [4] The IMF this week upgraded its world economic outlook, citing unexpected “resilience” in economic growth. [4] But it warned that that prosperity was fragmented, with vulnerable countries falling even further behind. [4] It highlighted oil-importing low-income countries not exposed to the boom in artificial intelligence investment as being the most vulnerable. [4] Yet the Fund's advice to all countries at a time of rising global debt levels has been to cut spending and rebuild fiscal buffers after years of spending on crises. [4] Asked what vulnerable countries should do, IMF deputy chief of research Petya Koeva Brooks told AFP that while their situation was indeed “more difficult”, they had “no other choice” but to address their fiscal balances by either cutting spending or increasing revenues. [4] The IMF has proposed making energy and food subsidies offered in the wake of the Iran war more targeted, even as the UN Development Programme warned this week that if such subsidies were cut entirely, it could plunge 130 million people into poverty. [4] Protest organiser Nacpil questioned in an interview how one could draw a line between who deserves a subsidy and who does not. [4] “How poor do you have to be for them to think that you will need some support?” she asked. [4] Reza Baqir of Alvarez & Marsal's Sovereign Advisory Services said he has experience with the difficult trade-offs policymakers in low-income countries face in such crises. [4] “During my time as Pakistan's central bank governor, I saw firsthand how difficult it can be for countries to balance the needs of the countries' citizens with the needs of the IMF programme,” he said. [4] “At the same time, it also reinforced the importance of addressing domestic governance challenges, so countries can build their own resources and fiscal buffers, reduce their reliance on the IMF and support their citizens in a targeted and prudent manner.” [4] Christina Segal-Knowles of the Rockefeller Foundation said developing countries are “effectively being given two bad options” – either take on debt at currently sky-high interest rates, or make extraordinary spending cuts and potentially give up on development goals. [4] She proposed a “growth and investment reset” that ramps up funding to countries in need as part of a set of measures designed to provide sustained support at concessional rates. [4] On the streets of Bangkok on Friday, protesters prepared to spend the night under a flyover. [4] “We are raising our voices because we believe that the network of citizens present here are key stakeholders in the negotiations,” said activist Supaporn Malailoy. [4] “This is not merely a matter of borrowing money; it is about shaping the very structure and direction of the nation's development.” [4]
Indian Youth Movement Challenges Voter Roll Revision
More than 25,000 police officers were deployed across New Delhi recently to prevent demonstrations led by India’s new youth-led political movement, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). [3] Government authorities had denied the CJP permission to protest on public-order grounds. [3] The ensuing security operation saw the authorities shut one in six metro stations in the capital, barricade dozens of central roads and cancel over 250 trains in what Indian rail officials called an “unprecedented closure.” [3] Thousands of protesters were detained, with documented accounts of police brutality. [3] While the epicenter is in Delhi, protests have been documented in five other major cities. [3] The protests grew out of discontent over a nationwide electoral roll review known as the Special Intensive Revision. [3] The revision, which began in 2025, has removed more than 130 million names from eligible voter lists – almost a tenth of India’s entire population. [3] India’s Election Commission has led the revision and says it is necessary to remove duplicate and ineligible voters. [3] But critics allege the review has political motivations. [3] In the state of West Bengal earlier in 2026, almost 12% of registered voters were removed from voter rolls before India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sailed to an election victory in a state it had not previously governed. [3] One analysis found that in a large number of constituencies the BJP won, the number of deleted voters exceeded the party’s margin of victory. [3] These events do not definitively prove that Special Intensive Revision deletions changed the state election results. [3] But the pattern is troubling. [3] So when the Indian Express recently reported that Election Commission members themselves raised 14 objections to voter exclusion during the revision, all of which were overruled by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the CJP called for his resignation and took to Delhi’s streets. [3]
Nigeria Supporters Petition INEC in Kano
Supporters of the Kwankwasiyya Movement on Friday protested in Kano over the alleged omission of the National Democratic Congress governorship candidate from the list released by the Independent National Electoral Commission. [1] The protesters, led by the deputy governorship candidate, Mustapha Kwankwaso, representing the candidate, Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo, marched to the INEC state office, where he submitted a formal petition demanding the reinstatement of their candidate. [1] Kwankwaso said the group had fulfilled all rules and regulations laid down by the commission regarding the nomination of candidates, describing the exclusion as unjust. [1] Addressing the protesters, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kano, Abdu Zango, said the commission had noted the reason for the omission and that there was still a window for appeal until October 24. [1] “Basically, what they came to do is to present a complaint about the omission of their candidates. Luckily, INEC has made the point very clear: the reason for the omission, and the fact that there is a window of appeal that has been provided up to the 24th of October,” Zango said. [1] “We received all the complaints and assured the delegation that their petition will receive the necessary attention, and we are going to forward it to our national headquarters for consideration. As far as we are concerned in Kano here, we are very neutral.” [1] Zango commended the group for adopting a peaceful and orderly approach in presenting their grievance rather than resorting to violence. [1] Also speaking, the spokesperson for the Kwankwasiyya Movement, Dr. Habib Mohammed, said the petition went beyond the omission of their candidate, as it included allegations of forgery and collusion by an INEC staff member. [1] “Another reason is a petition against a staff member here, whom we believe colluded with some unauthorised people to hide a decision which led to the substitution of some of our candidates,” Mohammed said. [1] “There is a regulation on the activities of the party and even authorised officers that are supposed to be engaging INEC. In a situation where multiple letters were submitted, some with suspected forged signatures, that is why we feel the need to bring it to light.” [1] He alleged that unauthorised letters were submitted to the INEC headquarters, leading to the substitution of their candidates in Kano. [1] Mohammed said the group had asked INEC to investigate the officer before taking further action, adding that they were satisfied with the assurances given by the Resident Electoral Commissioner. [1] “We thank God he received us very well and has assured us that he is going to do the needful within his own power. We are expecting him to escalate this particular petition up to the headquarters, which he assures us he is going to do today,” he said. [1]
Broader Context of Global Demonstrations
The Albanian protests, initially sparked by a coastline sale linked to a Jared Kushner development, have spread to multiple cities and demand Rama's resignation along with electoral and education reforms. [2] In India, the Cockroach Janta Party led protests in New Delhi and five other cities against a voter roll revision that removed more than 130 million names, with heavy police deployment, detentions, and demands for the chief election commissioner's resignation. [3] In Kano, Nigeria, Kwankwasiyya Movement supporters protested the omission of their National Democratic Congress governorship candidate from an INEC list, submitting a petition alleging forgery and collusion by an INEC staff member, with a window for appeal until October 24. [1] Hundreds of protesters in Bangkok, including farmers, demonstrated against the IMF and World Bank during their annual meetings, criticizing calls for spending cuts and subsidy reductions that could worsen poverty and inequality in developing nations. [4]
What to watch next: The window for appeal in the Kano candidate omission case remains open until October 24, while Albanian authorities continue to monitor the spread of protests to additional cities amid ongoing EU membership talks.
