Hundreds of Albanians took to the street here on Saturday to protest against a bill which allowed for waste from foreign countries to be imported into Albania.

"Albania has enough waste", "stop waste import", "Albania is against waste import", reads placards held by demonstrators during the protest in front of government offices.

The law, which was approved by the country's parliament last week, allows the imports of some waste conforming to a "green list", which contains dozens of materials.

While calling on political parties to stay away from the protest, the protesters said they strongly objected to the new law.

According to them, the waste import law is a betrayal of Albanian citizens' interests. They urged authorities not to decree the law.

The Albanian government has defended the law, saying that no hazardous elements will enter the country but only waste in the green-list, but the opposition has accused the government of betraying citizens' interests.    

Source : XINHUA