Albania elects new Prosecutor general amid protests

TIRANA, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Albanian parliament elected Monday Arta Marku as the temporary General Prosecutor, replacing Adriatik Llalla.

Marku was elected only with 69 votes of majority while opposition lawmakers refused to vote, throwing smoke grenades within the parliament's hall.

While new Prosecutor General was taking oath in front of MPs, opposition parties Democratic Party (DP) and Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI), their supporters and citizens were protesting outside the parliament building.

The opposition considered the election of Marku as illegal, stressing that the government had destroyed the work on the justice reform.

Opposition protesters forcefully tried to enter the parliament and disrupt the parliament's session but they were impeded by police who clashed with them while they also used smoke bombs.

Voting of new prosecutor general is seen as the next move to implement the justice reform, deemed as the key reform to country's bid to launch European Union membership negotiations.

But the progress of reform has been suspended as two main political camps have clashed over election of a prosecutor general since the opposition said that a permanent commission has to be appointed first. Enditem