Lecturer Lush Susaj recounts the story of the student who was held back for taking part in the 2018 protests: “My colleague punished him because he held my…

Lecturer Lush Susaj has recounted an episode from the 2018-2019 student protests, drawing attention to the case of student Selman Porja, who, according to him, was held back a year in his studies because of his participation.

According to the lecturer, the student was held back because he held an umbrella for him while he was reading another student’s poem. Susaj says that when Selman Porja returned to class, he was addressed with the words: “Get up, Selman, since you’re good for holding Lush’s umbrella.”

The lecturer considers this episode an example of how students involved in the protests during that period were treated.

“He is a young man, and I’m mentioning his name because there is no problem. His name is Selman Porja. They held him back for a year simply because he was holding the umbrella while I was reading another student’s poem. It was raining, and he was holding the umbrella so the paper would not get wet. When he went to class, they told him: ‘Get up, Selman, since you’re good for holding Lush’s umbrella.’ Can you say that to a student in the middle of the class about a colleague? Because in their minds, during 2018-2019, those of us who had understood what kind of atrocity was being prepared for the Albanian nation were enemies of the state. He is still unemployed today. He graduated in forestry engineering, while the forests are burning today because they hire party patronage workers,” Susaj said.