Updated

Thousands of Albanian opposition supporters have held an anti-government protest calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama, whom they accuse of links to organized crime.

Supporters led by the main conservative Democratic Party's leader Lulzim Basha on Saturday marched along the capital Tirana's Martyrs of the Nation boulevard calling "Rama go." They held anti-government posters and Albanian and European Union flags, and some threw stones and hard objects at Rama's office building and the Interior Ministry.

The Democrats also accuse Interior Minister Fatmir Xhafaj of supporting his brother's drug-related activities. Earlier this month his brother Agron handed himself over to the Italian authorities to serve a drug-related sentence in 2002.

Albania, a NATO member since 2009, is expecting to launch negotiations to join the EU next month.