Tensions flared outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Tirana after protesters set fire to chairs placed by Prime Minister Edi Rama as a symbolic invitation to dialogue with students.

The chairs had been set up in front of the government building earlier Sunday, as Rama renewed his call for talks with representatives of the protest movement, an appeal he has repeated over the past several days.

However, the situation escalated when protesters arrived outside the Prime Minister’s Office and set the chairs ablaze, in what appeared to be another symbolic rejection of the prime minister’s offer to negotiate.

The protesters had begun their march at the Ministry of Education, where they initially gathered on the 13th day of the student-led uprising against the government.

Students and young demonstrators have been demanding Rama’s resignation for days, rejecting calls for dialogue that do not include his departure from office.