The prime minister ruled out resigning / DW: Students continue protests as young people from other cities arrive in Tirana too! Could this bring change?

The prime minister ruled out resigning, but students continued their protest for a third day in a row. Young people from other cities in the country also arrived in Tirana.

At 8:03 a.m. on Thursday (15.10.2026), after two days of student protests marked by tension and violence on the streets of Tirana, Prime Minister Edi Rama broke his silence.

Speaking from the burned-out building of the College of Europe, just a few meters from his office, Rama posted a video message blaming the opposition for the violence and destruction in the capital.

“These are the hands of an opposition that, with blinders on, seeks to take Albania back to a place it will never return to,” he said. But his response to the protesters’ main demand came later in the day.

In a statement to the Reuters news agency, Rama made it clear that he would not resign.

The prime minister ruled out resigning, but students continued their protest, and young people from other cities in the country arrived in Tirana as well.

Protests also took place in other cities. They were accompanied by violent clashes with police, the use of tear gas and fires, while people were injured and buildings and businesses were damaged.

Revolt against the political class

At the heart of the revolt is young people’s dissatisfaction with the government, economic hardship and a lack of prospects for the future.

“We have nowhere to study, we have no income, we live in rented accommodation, and we can’t cover our expenses. The people in government have been bleeding us dry for years and feel no responsibility toward all these people in the square,” a student tells DW.

For Rigels Xhemollari, of Qëndresa Qytetare, the student revolt is linked to the grievances voiced during the months of the “Flamingo Revolution” movement.

“The prime minister’s failure to reflect during four months of protests on the boulevard, and his mockery of the protesters. The other reasons are tied to the economic situation, corruption scandals and one scandal after another,” he tells DW.

But the students’ dissatisfaction is not limited to the government. Alongside calls for Edi Rama to resign, there have also been chants against the opposition, although Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha has expressed his support for the protest.

Is there a political way out?

Political analyst Mark Marku, who is also dean of the Faculty of History and Philology, sees the student protest as the reaction of a generation that awakened society and revived the debate about change.

But he warns that the government’s resignation and new elections do not necessarily mean political change.

“Political action is measured not by its intentions, but by its result,” Marku says.

For this reason, he stresses the need for the protest to have a platform and a political alternative that citizens could vote for if the country were to hold elections. “A protest cannot be voted for,” the analyst says.

Xhemollari, meanwhile, sees the prime minister’s resignation as the only way to bring the revolt to an end.

“The protest has just one political demand, which calls for a political solution: the prime minister’s resignation,” he tells DW.

According to the activist, after Rama leaves office, the president should convene the political parties to form a caretaker government led by a nonpartisan prime minister, paving the way for local and parliamentary elections in May 2027.

In 2018, Albania was swept by mass student protests, focused mainly on problems in higher education. Eight years later, students have taken to the streets again, this time demanding political change. /DW