Edi Rama: The state does not negotiate with users of violence

On Monday, at a press conference, Prime Minister Edi Rama said that the authorities cannot negotiate with people who use violence, taking a firm stance against the protests held in recent days.

He also raised concerns about attacks on State Police officers, who, he said, are committed to ensuring security and protecting citizens.

“No one who holds this in their hands can be negotiated with. If the state enters into negotiations with them, then the state has fallen. As soon as they emerge victorious, their way of thinking becomes the state itself. Albania has experienced this scenario more than once, and the consequences have left scars,” Rama said.

The prime minister said that only a very small proportion of protesters are demonstrating peacefully. According to him, the young women and men taking part in such protests are not seeking peace.

“They have been idealized under the pressure of that dark force that has emerged in Europe and the United States, a force that President Donald Trump has called a terrorist organization,” he declared.

Rama stressed that this does not mean that young people, whose lives, he said, are tied to TikTok, are incapable of doing good things.

However, according to him, they often cannot put seven words together and have become involved in this situation.

“They are students, without a doubt, but at the same time they have become hostages to a new spirit whose sole purpose is to destroy, overturn everything and level it to the ground, with the belief that afterward everything can start over again,” the prime minister said.

He also referred to the memories of older generations, who experienced the period when, after 50 years of illusions, people believed that everything had to be destroyed in order to start from scratch.

“I would consider it a national tragedy if the police forces, men and women—all of you who wear the uniform and are here to protect citizens—were also under attack from the screens,” Rama concluded.