// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
Anti-government protesters battle with police in Albania
Watch: The BBC reports from Tirana, where violent protests grew on Saturday
Demonstrators and riot police fought pitched battles in the centre of Tirana on Saturday for the fifth day in a row.
Masked protesters, many of them high school and university students, hurled rocks and petrol bombs at riot police trying to defend the education ministry, one of the focal points of the protests.
The police responded with water cannon and volleys of tear gas, sending the crowds scattering. There are also reports that rubber bullets were used for the first time.
Protests which began in the summer have grown into a wider anti-government movement, with calls for the prime minister to resign following corruption allegations linked to his administration.
Many of the protesters in central Tirana wore gas masks or face masks, while volunteers handed out syringes of saline eyewash to reduce the pain from the tear gas which billows down the street.
The constant boom of petrol bombs could be heard exploding on Saturday.
During the afternoon, the focus of the protests shifted to the office of Prime Minister Edi Rama on the city's main boulevard.
Here the crowds swelled to far larger numbers than on previous days.
Riot police faced a steady hail of cobble stones and fireworks, and responded with barrage after barrage of tear gas, some of the canisters landing far back in the crowds, causing panic.