Well-known journalist Osman Stafa, speaking on the “News24 Fundjavë” program, criticized Prime Minister Edi Rama over the new legal package intended to address violence during protests.
He said the initiative restricts civil liberties and that the government is avoiding responsibility for reported violence against students and young people.
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Stafa said the package poses a threat to democracy and should be reviewed by the Constitutional Court.
He also pointed out that penalties are envisaged for protesters, while no similar measures are being drawn up for police officers suspected of using violence.
“What is the prime minister doing today? He is declaring a dictatorship. The new legal package is the declaration of a fully fledged dictatorship in Albania. I don’t know whether the members of the Constitutional Court will have the courage to strike it down, but they must defend the Republic.
Albania is more important than Edi Rama, Sali Berisha, any official and any political party. It is our country, our nation and our future.
The prime minister says nothing about police violence against protesters. There is no legal package for those who use violence. Nor are there any measures for people who appear masked and unidentified. I call them gangs protecting Edi Rama’s corrupt rule,” he said.
The journalist also spoke about the large number of young people at the protests, saying their participation reflects their concerns about the future and the lack of prospects in Albania.
He criticized how public funds are used, contrasting spending on government projects with the difficulties citizens face, in his view, in accessing healthcare.
“What are they spending this money on? Mothers with cancer and fathers in the oncology hospital apparently aren’t an emergency. The Kanye West concert is an emergency. We have the Garden of Eden at the Prime Minister’s Office.
For the prime minister, it is an emergency, but for Albanian citizens the Garden of Eden has no value at all. Zero! He is spending 4.3 million euros on it. We also have satellites that have not helped us with anything.
In my entire career as a journalist covering protests, I have never seen so many young people. They are the ones under threat, and they are fighting for their future, perhaps for their families too.
More than half of young people, perhaps even more, have left Albania because they no longer see a future here. All my first cousins have left: for Italy, Greece, Germany, England and America,” Stafa said.
During the interview, he said the situation should no longer be viewed as a clash between the Socialist Party and the Democratic Party, but as an issue affecting Albania’s future.
Stafa urged citizens to put the country’s interests above their political affiliations and criticized the political class of the past 36 years.
“Given the state Albania is in, this is no longer a matter of political parties. It has nothing to do with the Socialist Party or the Democratic Party anymore. Keep your party, and keep Edi Rama or Sali Berisha in your heart, whoever you want.
Now you must keep your country, Albania, in your heart. The party may burn, but Albania must not burn!
Albania will survive, and we must all stand by it and support one another.
This is not a movement or a protest to take power. It seeks to put an end to 36 years of politics.
Beyond my role as a journalist, I am also a human being and have my own convictions. I see events for myself, and I have seen what happens to people in hospitals. This is Albanians’ greatest wound.
Citizens must understand that this is a historic moment for their future,” he said.
Finally, Stafa repeated his accusations against Rama, saying the prime minister is seeking to consolidate power through restrictions and has failed to meet citizens’ expectations after four terms in government.
“Albania will go to Europe, with him or without him. But you cannot set fire to your own country, drive young people away, leave hospitals in the state they are in, and then tell Albania that they will not take it into the European Union.
He will go down in history as the man who is declaring and seeking a dictatorship in Albania, and who has beaten and brutalized students and high school pupils,” he said.
