BIRN: Two worlds in one square as students and the “Flamingos” reject Berisha’s MPs

Saturday’s protest in Tirana began differently from the rallies that have filled the capital’s streets since late May. At midday, two groups of protesters gathered in different locations. They shared the same political opponent but held irreconcilable views on the opposition’s role in the protest.

Several hundred supporters summoned by the Democratic Party gathered outside the Prime Minister’s Office. Although there was no podium, the party’s secretary-general, Flamur Noka, spoke to the media, insisting that his party supported the students’ protest and that opposition to the Democrats’ presence came from Arlind Qorri, leader of the Together Movement.

“Time showed that some of the names were bought like pigs and turned the Flamingos’ protest into a service for Edi Rama,” Noka said, accusing Qorri of giving the prime minister an opportunity to link the protest to the “Antifa” movement.

After his statement, Noka and other Democratic Party MPs led their supporters toward Durrës Street, where hundreds of students, young people and activists had gathered. Many of them had been taking part for months in the protests dubbed the “Flamingo Revolution.”

The movement began in late May as an environmental response to protect the Narta Lagoon and the Zvërnec area from strategic investment projects. It gradually became an ongoing protest against the government and the political elite.

But the Democrats’ arrival on Durrës Street exposed a divide that was not only political, but generational as well.

On one side stood Democratic Party supporters, mostly older men; facing them was a younger crowd of students and activists, among whom young women were particularly prominent.

The latter had chosen to combine the protest with Halloween imagery. On banners and posters created using artificial intelligence, Prime Minister Edi Rama, opposition leader Sali Berisha and other politicians were depicted as vampires, with bloodied fangs and bundles of cash in their hands.

Some protesters wore masks bearing the faces of Rama and his ministers, satirically imitating the government’s calls for dialogue.

But the festive atmosphere broke when the Democrats’ march approached the crowd.

“Rama in prison, Berisha in prison,” the students and activists began chanting, making clear that opposition to the government did not mean support for the traditional opposition.

Contrary to the Democratic Party leaders’ claims, the chants against Berisha did not come only from a small group of Together Movement activists, but from a considerable number of protesters. Among those who confronted the MPs were young people with no apparent party affiliation.

The confrontation split the protest into two camps.

A small group of Democratic Party supporters managed to mingle with the other protesters, while most remained opposite the students and activists calling for the MPs to leave.

On one side, people chanted “Sold-out opposition” and “Rama in prison, Berisha in prison.” On the other, Democratic Party supporters responded with “Down with communism,” “Down with the Soros supporters,” and insulting chants directed at Arlind Qorri.

Among the students, environmentalists, Together Movement activists, representatives of the Mundësia party and nationalist groups, opposition to the Democratic Party’s official presence took different forms but carried a shared message: the protest should not be led by Berisha’s MPs.

“Democrats can protest as citizens, as they always have,” one young person said, drawing a distinction between opposition supporters participating individually and their leaders’ attempt to take on a leading role.

He considered Berisha and his MPs part of the problems that had prompted the protest.

Others were more forceful. In face-to-face arguments with Democratic Party supporters, protesters pointed to scandals under Berisha’s previous government and accused the two main parties of sharing responsibility for the country’s condition.

“Berisha is the one who sat down with Soros,” one protester shouted at a group of Democrats chanting “Down with the Soros supporters.”

For nearly an hour, the confrontation continued with chants, arguments and dozens of television cameras. Despite the tension and several shoving incidents, it did not turn into a physical fight. Some protesters repeatedly intervened to calm things down, reminding both sides that opposition to the government was a shared cause.

Nevertheless, neither side backed down.

A few metres away, Mundësia party MPs Agron Shehaj and Erald Kapri interpreted the Democratic Party’s move as an attempt to impose itself on the protest.

“The protesters’ message is clear: they don’t want the old parties,” Shehaj said.

Arlind Qorri, who was several dozen metres away, said he was not concerned by Noka’s accusations or the Democratic Party’s attempt to join the protest.

“Flamur Noka’s lies don’t concern us,” he said.

For the Together Movement, its activists’ presence from the first protest in Zvërnec was evidence of their sustained commitment, at a time when the Democratic Party had not only failed to support the movement but had initially opposed it.

In late May, figures close to the Democratic Party accused the protesters of being used by Rama to put pressure on Jared Kushner, the American investor connected to the disputed project in the Zvërnec area.

Noka himself shared the Facebook profiles of several protesters around that time, calling for them to be excluded from the movement.

But as the protests grew and drew tens of thousands of participants, the Democrats’ position changed. More moderate Democratic Party representatives began attending the rallies regularly, even though one of the most frequently repeated chants called for both Rama and Berisha to be imprisoned.

For months, the Democratic Party tried to downplay the fact that at protests against the government, its leader was being placed in the same category as the prime minister.

The chant “Rama in prison, Berisha in prison” was often answered with alternatives such as “Rama in prison, Belinda in prison” or with anti-communist chants, creating an ongoing struggle over the protest’s political message.

A similar scene played out again on Saturday, when Democratic activists tried to drown out chants against Berisha with other slogans.

The confrontation did not escalate, but it did not bring reconciliation either.

Meanwhile, attention shifted a little farther along, where a group of around 20 to 30 young people began clashing with police.

Stones and paving slabs were initially thrown at the security forces. Some people standing to the side supplied the group with intact slabs while telling those present not to film them. Later, bottles containing flammable substances, brought in bags, appeared in the square and were thrown at the police.

Unlike at previous protests, when police interventions had involved widespread use of force, including against protesters who were not involved in clashes, police initially showed restraint this time.

Officers used megaphones to urge protesters to stop throwing hard objects and committing acts of violence, a form of communication not seen in earlier clashes.

Only after Molotov cocktails were thrown did police use one of their high-pressure water vehicles to disperse the group.

At almost the same time, a torrential downpour broke over Tirana, changing the protest’s dynamics.

Democratic Party supporters began to leave, while several hundred students and activists continued marching toward the Prime Minister’s Office, some under umbrellas and others soaked by the rain.

For hours, the protest outside the government building remained peaceful.

Still, some protesters were disappointed by the smaller turnout compared with previous rallies.

“First Berisha, then the rain, helped Rama,” analyst Agim Baçi, who was at the protest outside the Prime Minister’s Office, said.

Baçi was referring to the Democratic leader’s recent statements and Noka’s position before the protest. He interpreted the Democratic Party’s intervention as an attempt to take control of a movement it had not started.

In his view, the Democrats’ conduct reflected a political logic according to which, if the protest could not take place under their leadership, it was better for it not to succeed.

Despite the midday tensions and the departure of part of the crowd, those who remained outside the Prime Minister’s Office continued the rally peacefully for around two more hours.

But the evening brought another confrontation.

Police intervened to disperse the protesters, using force and tear gas. Rapid Intervention Force officers and police vehicles pursued groups of protesters through the streets and alleys around central Tirana./ BIRN