TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian opposition lawmakers on Thursday protested in Parliament, burning effigies and clashing with bodyguards, after one of their colleagues was convicted of slander and imprisoned.
The conservative Democrat lawmakers, who had called for a boycott of Thursday's session, tried to block their colleagues from the governing Socialist Party from entering the chamber.
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TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian opposition lawmakers on Thursday protested in Parliament, burning effigies and clashing with bodyguards, after one of their colleagues was convicted of slander and imprisoned.
Albanian opposition lawmakers put fire on mannequins depicting members of the Socialist Party government, with a photo of Prime Minister Edu Rama in the center, during a protest for the imprisonment of a fellow lawmaker in Tirana, Albania, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli)
Albanian opposition lawmakers put fire on mannequins depicting members of the Socialist Party government during a protest for the imprisonment of a fellow lawmaker in Tirana, Albania, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli)
Albanian Parliament's security move away Ramadan Lika, center, lawmaker of conservative opposition Democratic Party, as he tried to disrupt the parliament's session during a protest for the imprisonment of a fellow lawmaker in Tirana, Albania, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli)
Albanian Parliament's security move away Ramadan Lika, center, lawmaker of conservative opposition Democratic Party, as he tried to disrupt the parliament's session during a protest for the imprisonment of a fellow lawmaker in Tirana, Albania, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli)
They were protesting the imprisonment of Ervin Salianji, who in 2018 demanded the resignation of the then-interior minister over allegations of his brother's illegal activity that later proved to be fabricated.
Salianji, who began serving a one-year sentence last week, has appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court.
The Democrats on Monday disrupted a Parliamentary session, saying Salianji's conviction was politically motivated and calling for protests in the capital, Tirana, starting next week. Twenty-four Democrats were punished for the protest with suspensions of 10 to 60 days.
On Thursday the Democrats scuffled with bodyguards and burnt four of the governing Socialists in effigy, including Prime Minister Edi Rama and Interior Minister Fatmir Xhafaj.
After failing to enter the hall, the opposition lawmakers ended their protest and soon after, their Socialist counterparts concluded the session and left.
The opposition has called for a national protest next Monday in Tirana, urging its supporters to take part in civil disobedience.
The Democrats have long accused Rama's Socialists of usurping power, including the judiciary, and have staged violent protests against the government since 2013.
Separately, Rama is undergoing surgery for an inguinal hernia at the Mother Teresa University Hospital Center, where he is expected to spend the night, his office said Thursday.
Rama, 60, has led the Socialists since 2005 and is now in his third term as prime minister, serving in the role since 2013.
Albania holds parliamentary election next year.
The European Union and the United States have urged the opposition to resume dialogue with the government, saying violence will not help the country integrate into the European bloc.
In 2020, the EU decided to launch full membership negotiations with Albania, and later this month Tirana will start discussions with the bloc on how it aligns with the rule of law, functioning of democratic institutions and fight against corruption.
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Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Albanian opposition lawmakers put fire on mannequins depicting members of the Socialist Party government, with a photo of Prime Minister Edu Rama in the center, during a protest for the imprisonment of a fellow lawmaker in Tirana, Albania, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli)
Albanian opposition lawmakers put fire on mannequins depicting members of the Socialist Party government during a protest for the imprisonment of a fellow lawmaker in Tirana, Albania, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli)
Albanian Parliament's security move away Ramadan Lika, center, lawmaker of conservative opposition Democratic Party, as he tried to disrupt the parliament's session during a protest for the imprisonment of a fellow lawmaker in Tirana, Albania, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli)
Albanian Parliament's security move away Ramadan Lika, center, lawmaker of conservative opposition Democratic Party, as he tried to disrupt the parliament's session during a protest for the imprisonment of a fellow lawmaker in Tirana, Albania, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli)
An Israeli airstrike on an apartment in central Beirut has killed nine people, according to Lebanon's health ministry. Israel has been pounding areas of the country where the Hezbollah militant group has a strong presence since late September, but has rarely struck in the heart of the capital.
There was no warning before the strike late Wednesday, which hit an apartment in central Beirut not far from the United Nations headquarters, the prime minister’s office and parliament. Hezbollah’s civil defense unit said seven of its members were killed.
The strike came as Israel was pursuing a ground incursion into Lebanon against Hezbollah, while also conducting strikes in Gaza that killed dozens, including children. The Israeli military said eight soldiers have died in the conflict in southern Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.
Here is the latest:
BEIRUT — The Israeli military has ordered the evacuation of villages and towns in southern Lebanon that are north of a United Nations-declared buffer zone established after the 2006 war. The warning issued Thursday signaled a possible broadening of Israel’s incursion into southern Lebanon, which until now has been confined to areas close to the border.
BEIRUT —Lebanon’s Health Ministry Thursday said that at least nine people were killed in an Israeli strike in central Beirut, as it is also running DNA tests on remains they have obtained to identify others.
Hezbollah said that seven paramedics and rescue workers from its medical arm the Islamic Health Committee were killed in the strike that hit its office in Bashoura. The Health Ministry said 14 others were wounded in the strike early Thursday.
Prior to the attack, the ministry said that 55 people were killed and 156 others were wounded in Israeli strikes over Lebanon on Wednesday.
The frequent strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs as well as occasional strikes in central Beirut have exacerbated Lebanon’s displacement crisis. The government estimated days ago that some one million people are currently displaced in the cash-strapped country.
Environment Minister Nasser Yassin, who is spearheading the government’s response efforts to the war, told local media that some 167,000 Syrians left Lebanon over the past 24 hours alone. The Associated Press could not independently confirm.
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said Thursday that it killed a senior Hamas leader in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip around three months ago.
It said that a strike on an underground compound in northern Gaza killed Rawhi Mushtaha and two other Hamas commanders, Sameh Siraj and Sameh Oudeh.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
The military said the three commanders had taken refuge in a fortified underground compound in northern Gaza that served as a command and control center.
It said Mushtaha was a close associate of Yahya Sinwar, the top leader of Hamas who helped mastermind the Oct. 7 attack into Israel that triggered the war.
Sinwar is believed to be alive and in hiding inside Gaza.
NICOSIA, Cyprus — The British government chartered more flights to help U.K. nationals leave Lebanon, a day after an evacuation flight left Beirut.
The government said in a statement that the flights will continue as “long as the security situation allows” and that it’s working to increase capacity on commercial flights for British nationals.
U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey on Wednesday visited a British military base on Cyprus where around 700 troops, Foreign Office staff and Border Force officers have been deployed to a British military base in Cyprus to help with evacuation plans.
British nationals and their spouses, partners and children under the age of 18 are eligible. Dependents who aren’t British nationals will need a valid visa granting a maximum six-month stay in the U.K.
BEIRUT — An Israeli strike in the Lebanese capital Beirut killed seven health and rescue workers, an Islamic health organization said.
The airstrike in the residential Bashoura district targeted an apartment in a multi-story building that houses an office of the Health Society, a group of civilian first responders affiliated to Hezbollah.
It was the closest strike to the central downtown district of Beirut, where the United Nations and government offices are located.
It was the second airstrike to hit central Beirut this week and the second to directly target the Health Society in 24 hours. No Israeli warning was issued to the area before it was hit. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strike in central Beirut or the allegations it used phorphorous bombs.
Israel has mostly concentrated its airstrikes in south and eastern Lebanon, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut where Hezbollah has a strong presence, but its attacks have spanned the entire country and killed many civilians.
Beirut’s southern suburbs also saw heavy bombardment overnight in areas where the Israeli army had earlier issued a warning online for residents to evacuate.
TOKYO — Japan on Thursday dispatched two Self Defense Force planes to prepare for a possible airlift of Japanese citizens from Lebanon.
Two C-2 transport aircraft are expected to arrive in Jordan and Greece on Friday, Japan NHK national television reported.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters that there has been no report of injury involving the about 50 Japanese nationals in Lebanon.
Japan dispatched SDF aircraft in October and November 2023 to evacuate more than 100 Japanese and South Korean citizens from Israel.
SYDNEY — Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Thursday her government had booked 500 seats on commercial aircraft for Australian citizens, permanent residents and their families to leave Lebanon on Saturday.
The seats are available to 1,700 Australians and their families known to be in Lebanon on two flights from Beirut to Cyprus, Wong said.
“What I would say to Australians who wish to leave, please take whatever option is available to you,” Wong told reporters in Geelong, Australia.
“Please do not wait for your preferred route,” she added.
A Hezbollah paramedic walks between debris after an airstrike hit an apartment in a multistory building, in central Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Lebanese women stand in front an apartment in a multistory building hit by Israeli airstrike, in central Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A destroyed apartment in a multistory building hit by Israeli airstrike, in central Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Hezbollah paramedics walk between debris after an airstrike hit an apartment in a multistory building, in central Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A woman reacts in front an apartment in a multistory building hit by Israeli airstrike, in central Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
This image from United Nations Television, shows Israel Ambassador Danny Danon during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (UNTV via AP)
Soldiers carry the coffin of Israeli Army Capt. Eitan Yitzhak Oster, who was killed in action in Lebanon, during his funeral at Mt. Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
An Israeli Apache helicopter releases flares near the Israeli-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Police stand guard at the site of an apparent Israeli airstrike in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Workers clean at the site of an apparent Israeli airstrike in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
People collecting remains of victims after an airstrike that hit an apartment in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A firefighter stands in front of an apartment hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
