Hundreds of Albanians took to the streets of London in flashy cars overnight to celebrate their country's independence day.  

Video footage shared online shows Audis, Range Rovers and Porsche 4x4s all bringing traffic around Westminster to a standstill as Metropolitan Police officers attempt to move the vehicles on.  

In various clips, men and women can be seen waving the Albanian flag while hanging out of the windows of their cars - including a purple Lamborghini Huracan and a G-class Mercedes, which cost around £120,000 and £160,000 respectively.

Loud firecrackers were let off while the long line of vehicles beeped their horns continuously to celebrate Albania's independence, which is commemorated on November 28 each year.  

The small European nation became independent on that date in 1912, just 110 years ago.  

A Met Police spokesperson said: 'Police became aware of a large group of vehicles and people congregating in the SE1 and SW1 area. 

'Officers worked to minimise disruption. Some diversions were put in place. 

'One person was reported to have been arrested.'   

The images sparked fury with motorists, with some branding the celebrations as 'selfish'.  

One Twitter user fumed: 'Albanians in London celebrating their Independence Day selfishly blocked the Strand and Trafalgar Square, as people were coming out of the theatres at 10pm.'

Others defended the Albanians after Twitter users commented on the number of luxury cars.  

One wrote: 'Couple of fancy cars here but the majority look pretty ordinary to me (a lot of mid range new cars just look like that these days).  

'Central London is hardly going to be demographically representative of Albanians in Britain as far as wealth goes either.'  

It comes after figures revealed this week showed Albanians accounted for just over a third of people detected crossing the English Channel in small boats in the first nine months of this year. 

(Source: Daily Mail)