TIRANA – Albanian artists and opposition party supporters gathered for a second day Monday to protest the demolition of the crumbling National Theater building in the capital, which has triggered strong political tension amid a major heritage debate.
Defying a lockdown ban on mass gatherings, a few thousand people gathered near the Interior Ministry, close to the site of the building, to support the artists in their protest against Prime Minister Edi Rama's center-left government.
The theater was knocked down Sunday despite protests, although police had to first pull a group of artists and some opposition leaders away from the late 1930s Italian-designed building in Tirana before heavy machinery started to bring it down.