TIRANA, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Albanian police dispersed on Saturday hundreds of violent protesters who entered forcibly into the headquarters of the country's main opposition Democratic Party (DP) in an internal dispute over the party's leadership.
With the request of a group of Democratic lawmakers, Albanian police forces intervened to disperse the protesters, who stormed forcibly into the DP offices, by firing tear gas and using water cannons.
Local media reported on Saturday that around 15 protesters were detained and at least one police officer and another person remained injured.
The protesters were supporters of the former DP leader and prime minister of Albania Sali Berisha, who was excluded by the DP parliamentary group after being declared as non-grata by the U.S. State Department and was banned along with his family from entering the United States over alleged corruption.
Lulzim Basha, current DP leader and other opposition lawmakers were inside the building when Berisha's supporters used hammers, chairs and iron bars to open the main doors of the building.
Last month, Berisha held several meetings with his supporters from the DP and called a party assembly to remove Basha from his post, but the voting held to fire Basha was called as non-valid by the Democratic Party.
In a reaction to the violent protest, Albanian Interior Minister Bled Cuci said that "Peaceful protests are fundamental to democracy, but acts of violence and attempts to disrupt public order will not be tolerated." ■