Albanian protesters, police clash over theater demolition

Albanian police clashed Sunday with opposition supporters who were protesting the demolition of the country's National Theater building in the capital.

Police pulled a group of artists and some opposition leaders away from the building in Tirana early in the morning before heavy machinery started to bring it down.

The country is in a lockdown because of the coronavirus outbreak and no mass gatherings are allowed.

The government's decision to destroy the old National Theater, built by Italians when they occupied Albania during World War II, was opposed by artists and others who wanted it renovated instead.

Workers started building the theater in 1938 and finished it the following year before it opened as a cultural center in 1940. Albania's government took the decision to tear it down two years ago and shuttered it. Actors and artists continued to use it even after that.

The theater had many names over the years. When it first opened, the Italians named it Savoia, and then during the German occupation it was called Movie Theater Kosova before being renamed the People's Theater during communist times and finally the National Theater.

Hundreds of protesters continued to stay near the building still being demolished trying to break the police cordon and chanting Down with the dictatorship!