Seriously injured at protest, 28-year-old speaks: “The bullet is still in my eye”; I was 30 meters from the officers, standing there without reacting

One blow, two steps, and then he fell to the ground. That is how Erjon Vishkulli describes the moment he was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet during the protest.

Amid the pain and uncertainty about his eyesight, he tells Top Channel journalist Endi Tufa exclusively for the first time what happened shortly before everything changed.

The bullet is still lodged in his left eye, and his hopes now rest with doctors and more specialized treatment.

“I went to meet my friends and was going to leave. I had taken off my oxygen mask and, at that moment, I ran into a journalist friend. The police were about 30 meters away from me. I wasn’t reacting at all, nothing. Then I was hit, walked about two meters, and fell to the ground,” he said.

It all happened in a matter of seconds. Erjon says that after being struck, he was only partially conscious. He remembers little about what happened next, but recalls a friend helping him and driving him away.

After that, another battle began, this time in the hospital, as he faced the pain and fear that he might lose his eyesight.

“I was only partly conscious, while a friend drove me. That’s all I remember after that,” he said.

The rubber bullet is still lodged in Erjon’s left eye. The effects of the impact and the risk to his eyesight remain the main concerns. He does not hide his pain, and there is still no certainty about what may happen next.

“I still have the rubber bullet in my eye. I can’t say right now how high the risk is, but this is not easy, because I’m in a lot of pain,” he told Top Channel.

Under these circumstances, specialized treatment has become the main hope for saving his injured eye.

Following Top Channel’s contact with the hospital staff, Erjon’s doctors and relatives, arrangements were made to transport him to a hospital in Rome. He is expected to leave this afternoon to receive more specialized medical care.

Amid the pain and uncertainty, Erjon ends his testimony with two words: “Only victory.” After what he has been through, the phrase carries an even stronger meaning.

“Only victory,” he says.

Endi Tufa: What does that mean?

“Albania is ours,” he concludes.