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Tirana, January 28, 2011 NOA - Tens of thousands of Albanians holding flowers and candles marched silently through Albania's capital Friday in a peaceful antigovernment demonstration to honor three opposition supporters shot dead during a protest last week.
Hundreds of police guarded the main government building in the Tirana city center, fearing a repeat of the deadly clashes that injured more than 150 protesters and security officers. Authorities have said they consider the demonstration a security threat, and refused to guarantee protesters' safety.
However, the march, led by opposition Socialist leader Edi Rama, senior members of his party and relatives of the victims, appeared to be more of a funeral procession than a protest.
As loudspeakers played somber music, protesters laid flowers and lit candles under giant photos of the three dead men outside the government building. Socialist spokeswoman Armela Ymeraj said that about 200,000 people were on the streets. Police provided no official estimate. /AP/
