Prime Minister Rama posted a response on Facebook after a protest near the Prime Minister’s Office, where a kiosk was completely burned down.
In his message, he expressed solidarity with the families who had lost the fruits of their hard work, linking the situation to what he described as a blind effort by the opposition and stressing that it had nothing to do with students.
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“These are the ruins of the life, work, toil, sweat, dreams and hopes of an ordinary family, of ordinary parents who open their doors every morning so they can bring home their earnings in the evening and put food on the table through honest work.
I want to tell all those who today stand in tears before similar ruins, and who make their living from a small business in Tirana, that they are not alone, that once this scourge passes, we will be there together. And I want to tell them not to forget that we faced a terrifying earthquake with consequences that were, God forbid, far greater, and we made it through. We made it through together, and today those who lost their homes in 30 seconds live in better homes, in stronger homes.
How can this be the students’ doing? How can these ruins represent the investment parents have made in their children? This has absolutely nothing to do with students. This entire scourge is not a student scourge. This whole business of holding the city hostage behind masks has nothing whatsoever to do with the concerns, the problems or the legitimate aspirations of anyone who wants a better life. Behind all of this is the same hand, the very same hand that has the Albanian opposition by the throat and that has burned and destroyed Albania more than once, and is ready to burn and destroy it again to stop it moving forward, in a blind struggle where hatred, the blindest hatred, and the flames of division are the only light of reason.
These are not the students. Neither those who hold the city hostage during the day nor those who then preach in the evening about the student movement, struggle and revolt have anything to do with you. They have nothing to do with your problems, nothing to do with the solutions you need.
How can minors be sent out onto the streets? How can minors be encouraged to put on masks, tear up pavements that are laid and maintained every day with your taxes, and attack the police? How can minors’ lives be put at risk by throwing them onto the streets like a blind pack to serve someone else’s agenda? The sinister hand, the old hand, the evil hand that has pursued Albania like a curse since 1912, and whose owner we have known very well for more than 30 years, is today supported by other hands too, foreign hands. Foreign hands that do not want Albania to be peaceful, that do not want Albania to see clearly, move forward and work on its problems every day to improve, that do not want Albania to be part of the united European family, that do not want Albania to reach the place where it will escape these hands and the yoke of forced choice once and for all.
They do not want Albania to be free to make its own free choice to be there alongside the other peoples, alongside the other states of the European Union. Does it seem like a coincidence to you that as soon as Albania gets another green light, as soon as Albania closes another chapter, as soon as Albania moves closer to that ambition, to that historic objective, flames erupt here? It is no coincidence at all! None of what is happening is a coincidence. Everything that is happening is a trial, an ordeal, a test of our character, and it is another step we will take together in the face of a major, entirely artificial obstacle placed before us.
At the same time, yes, students, entrepreneurs, all the ordinary people of this country and their parents have the right to demand more. Yes, the problems are there and must be addressed. And yes, we are here to do our best with what we know and what we can do, striving every day to learn more and do better.
Do not forget that we have brought Albania this far, we have brought Tirana this far, and this has not happened simply through the passage of time, through circumstances or by chance. It has come through persistent work to move forward, and anyone who says we should bow to violence for a little peace is wrong. They are wrong because bowing to violence for a little peace means losing that peace and losing our way for a long time. Albania has bowed to violence for a little peace before, and we all know it got nowhere.
Sisters and brothers, be patient, be patient, for this too shall pass. Be patient, because once this passes we will emerge as we have from other ordeals: stronger and more aware of the shared challenge ahead of us,” Rama said.
