Sazan Guri at protest: This prime minister will be removed, the third siege will be a physical one targeting parliament and the government

Amid the ongoing protest in front of the Prime Minister’s Office, environmentalist Sazan Guri was one of the voices who addressed the citizens.

In his remarks, Guri issued strong calls for resistance and demanded that the protest take on a stronger democratic form, calling for the physical blockade of the country’s main institutions in order to stop government decisions.

“This country has reached this day, where in front of us there is only one ship left: either he will go — the one who does not even deserve to be called by name — or we will! We, Albanian citizens, who do not want to be troubled by the fact that apparently we are in the square 2, 3, 5 or 10% of the population,” Guri declared, stressing that what is decisive is perseverance, not the number of participants. He called for full commitment from everyone present, using a powerful historical metaphor as well: “There is no government that cannot be overthrown, but there are citizens who withdraw. There are no causes that cannot be won, but there are citizens who abandon the cause halfway. Every person should give their word to themselves when they come to this square, just like the generals who burned the ships. Let us kiss our children and wives and in this long war of resistance we will defeat them little by little, with morals.”

He then focused on the issue of property and on the laws that, according to him, have legalized the plunder of national wealth. Guri explained that this movement is not limited only to protecting specific coastal areas or wildlife. “We will make them strip themselves bare, so that they have neither the nerve nor the face to appear before the Albanian people, all the more so a prime minister who has undone constitutionally lawful property rights and in 2015, with a strategic investment law, decided to steal from this people. Are we coming out only to protect the flamingos? It is much more than that!” he told the crowd.

At the end of his speech, Guri described his idea of the complete isolation of top leaders as the final step of this civic resistance. “We have surrounded this prime minister democratically and morally. For me, the third siege is the physical siege! Parliament and the prime minister must be surrounded so that they cannot make decisions about our causes!” he concluded.