Albanians in flash cars grind central London to standstill as they toast Independence Day back home

Hundreds of Albanians drove through the streets of London in flashy cars at night to celebrate their country’s Independence Day.

Video footage shared online shows Lamborghini, Mercedes, Audis, Range Rovers and Porsche 4x4s halting traffic around Westminster as Metropolitan Police officers attempt to move the vehicles forward.

Several clips show men and women waving the Albanian flag while hanging out of their car windows and blowing air horns.

Elsewhere, cars performed wheel spins while young women donned traditional dresses and danced in the streets.

The images sparked anger from motorists, with some labeling the celebrations ‘selfish’

Albanians cause a disturbance in central London as they celebrate Independence Day by sounding their horns and blocking traffic on Monday night

Loud fireworks were set off as the long line of vehicles continued to honk their horns to celebrate Albania’s independence, which is commemorated on November 28 every year.

The small European nation gained independence on that date in 1912, exactly 110 years ago.

MailOnline has contacted the Met for comment.

The images sparked anger from motorists, with some labeling the celebrations “selfish”.

One Twitter user enraged: ‘Albanians celebrating their Independence Day in London selfishly blocked Strand and Trafalgar Square, as people left theaters at 10pm.

The small European nation gained independence on that date in 1912, exactly 110 years ago.

Video footage shared online shows Mercedes, Audis, Range Rovers and Porsche 4x4s halting traffic around Westminster as Metropolitan Police officers attempt to move the vehicles forward

A Mercedes performs a wheelspin as part of the Albanian Independence Day celebrations in central London

Young women donned traditional dresses and danced in the streets

Albanians ride in the back of an Audi convertible as they celebrate their country’s independence in London

“Traffic was terrible, an hour late.”

Another added: “One of the reasons it took me so long to get home yesterday,” while one driver warned: “Don’t go into town, the traffic is a nightmare.”

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

One of them wrote: ‘There are some nice cars here, but most of them look pretty ordinary (many new mid-range cars look like this these days).

“Central London will also not be demographically representative of Britain’s Albanians in terms of wealth.”

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

Police address Albanian motorists as they celebrated in central London on Monday night

Police try to move hundreds of cars carrying Albanian flags around Westminster Bridge

A man dressed in an Albanian flag stands atop a white Range Rover as two women lean out of the passenger windows

The traffic sparked anger among motorists, with some labeling the celebrations “selfish.”

It is a sharp increase from previous years, with only 3% of arrivals in 2021 with Albanian nationality and only 1% in 2020.

In the three months from July to September, 45% of small boat arrivals were Albanian (9,076) and on some days it was as high as 80%.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, a greater mix of nationalities has been discovered crossing over in recent years.

Iranians accounted for the majority of arrivals in both 2018 (80%) and 2019 (66%).

But since 2020, arrivals from countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea have become more common, while the number of Albanians “has increased significantly” this year.