The 109th consecutive protest held outside the prime minister’s office on Wednesday evening ended with an announcement that the civil disobedience action would continue. The organizers urged citizens to gather again tomorrow at 10:00 outside parliament.

After the speeches outside the prime minister’s office came to an end, activists and citizens marched toward several areas of Tirana.

The final stop was near the bust of Commander Adem Jashari. According to the organizers, the choice of this location held symbolic significance for Kosovo and the Kosovo Liberation Army.

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Socialist MP Iris Luarasi has responded in a video to the tense situation that unfolded this Tuesday before the start of the plenary session, when several female protesters followed her as she was entering the Parliament building.

Luarasi said she would report the incident and that it would then be up to the justice system to act. According to her, insults cannot be considered protest, humiliation does not constitute activism, and violence does not change its nature even when it is carried out by women.

“When insult is dressed up as protest and verbal violence is sold as activism, what should the response be?? I choose to speak, without lowering my head, without losing my dignity, without insulting,” she wrote in a message published alongside the video recorded at Parliament.

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The protest near the Parliament premises was accompanied by tensions and clashes between citizens and police forces.

Police officers repeated their call for the protesters to leave, while a water cannon truck was also placed on standby.

Many protesters took part in the 101st day of the gathering, holding banners and expressing anti-police views.

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The protest, which has entered its 96th day, continued today with the same calls. With the start of September, a higher turnout of citizens at the gathering has been observed.

Protesters announced that on Tuesday, September 8, they will gather outside Parliament, as the new parliamentary session begins.

They say they are determined not to back down and to continue their resistance until their demands are met.

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Citizens have announced that tomorrow, at 10:00, they will gather outside the Tirana Court, where security measures are expected to be set for the 14 people who were arrested. They were detained two days ago following physical clashes with police officers.

During the gathering, large numbers of State Police and FNSH forces were deployed in the area, while police intervened to disperse the protesters.

Following the clashes, one of the protest’s organizers, Dritan Goxhaj, was also escorted to the police station.

Protesters continue to demand Edi Rama’s removal from office.

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Appearing on the program “NOW with Erla Mëhillin,” analyst Andi Bushati spoke about the protest, citizens’ demands and the government’s stance toward them. According to him, even if two million Albanians gathered in the square, under the current circumstances the government would not resign. Bushati also stressed that the protest should not be judged solely by whether it brings down Edi Rama.

He said the protest had highlighted citizens’ exhaustion and deep dissatisfaction with Rama’s government, as well as with the political class as a whole. According to him, a very large number of Albanians have concluded that the situation cannot continue this way, as their living conditions are deteriorating.

“The protest has shown us that people are utterly exhausted by the Rama government in particular and by this political class in general. There is extreme dissatisfaction in the country, and a large number of Albanians have understood that enough is enough, because with this regime it is no longer possible to move forward and their lives are becoming increasingly difficult,” Bushati said.

The analyst emphasized that, regardless of how many days the protest lasts, it has already fulfilled an important part of its mission. He added that the protesters’ demands are addressed directly to Rama, while in democracies leaders step down when they face citizens’ dissatisfaction or wait for elections to leave office through the vote.

“In democratic countries, when leaders see that people are dissatisfied with them, they step down or wait for elections and leave through the vote. But in this country, where elections have been suppressed, even if two million Albanians took to the square, the government would have no reason to resign,” he declared.

Bushati argued that the outcome of the protest does not depend on the government’s response, since, in his view, it will continue to govern in the same way. He claimed that the government would continue to steal and, in order to cover up these actions, would ultimately also attempt to steal the votes.

“Even if people take to the streets in September, whether they are few or as numerous as they have been so far, I do not believe there could be a greater message than the one that has already been delivered. For this reason, the success of the protest is not measured by bringing down Rama,” the analyst said.

According to him, the protest has been successful because it has changed the perception of some citizens. He pointed out that previously the discourse was that people did not vote for Saliu and Qori, and therefore Rama was considered the best alternative. Now, according to Bushati, there is a force of citizens who reject this idea and consider Rama not the best, but the worst—and the first person they do not want to allow to decide their lives.

“This is the purpose of the protest. The other objectives are achieved by revolutions and cannot be achieved through a protest,” Bushati concluded.

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Tirana – Activists and citizens gathered this Thursday for the 82nd protest held in the capital.

The rally began in Skanderbeg Square, from where the participants marched toward the Dëshmorët e Kombit Boulevard.

After the march ended in front of the Prime Minister’s Office, the protesters continued calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Their demands also include the removal of the political class and the formation of a technical government.

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In his message, the head of government divided the participants into two groups, describing them through metaphorical imagery that, according to him, reflects the different approaches to the protest.

“Flamingos and crows with ravens are separated precisely by the gulf that separates peace from violence. The former want Albania to be better, fairer, cleaner, while the latter want Albania to be a playground for hooliganism, violence and filth,” Rama writes.

According to him, some of the protesters are seeking a calmer and more constructive society, while another group is looking for tension and clashes.

“The flamingos will get what they seek, while the bitter failures of the black crust of this protest will get what they deserve, the crows and the ravens,” the prime minister further states.

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During the conversation, Hyland emphasized the long-standing historical ties between Albania and the United States of America. Speaking about the project proposed by Jared Kushner, he described it as a major economic opportunity of international scale.

“The US has a long history with Albania. If it were not for President Willson, the breakup of Albania would have led to its non-existence.

We have had a woman in the US who wanted to become Queen of Albania. American supporters have never stopped speaking about Albania and Albanians in successive US administrations.

Albania must be open to investment. As for Kushner’s project, it is a multinational project involving the US, Saudi Arabia, and investors coming from all over the world and from international investment. Albania has many colors, like those used by your prime minister.

No one is more concerned than I am about protecting protected areas, and the island where the investment will be made is, in a way, ruined, and investors will pour billions of dollars into changing it, so this is, in a way, a kind of gift for Albania.

I have visited many of Albania’s national parks, and in these places there are hotels, there are resorts, and I support the idea that these investments should be open to citizens, so that they can experience that investment,” he said.

According to Hyland, Sazan Island is currently in a degraded condition, and the planned multi-billion-dollar investment would bring about a major transformation, giving the country, in his view, an entirely new image.

He also added that he has visited many national parks in Albania, where he saw hotels and resorts, while supporting the idea that such investments should be accessible to citizens, so that they too have the opportunity to experience them.

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Through a lengthy post on social media, Vengu said he is “for a strong Albania alongside the chants for a new Albania,” while listing three elements that, in his view, form the basis of Albanians’ strategic role in Southeastern Europe, one important element being the country’s economic, diplomatic and international strengthening over the past decade.

“First, Albania’s greatest strategic advantage in the 21st century is that it is surrounded by fellow nationals. In an era when power is measured less and less by territory and more and more by the ability to organize, adapt and act quickly, the Albanian presence in the region is our greatest historical, human and geopolitical capital.

Second, unlike the first century of state-building, in the last decade Albania’s economic, diplomatic and international strengthening is being translated directly into more security, more weight and more opportunities for Albanians throughout the region. It is no longer only Albania that is sustained by the nation. It is also the nation that is strengthened by a stronger, more credible Albania that is closer to the European Union. Third, Albania has exercised its role as the mother state without complexes: sometimes on the front line, sometimes through quiet diplomacy, but always in defense of the national interest and of Albanians wherever they live,” Vengu wrote.

In his reaction, he also praised Albania’s role as the mother state, stressing that the country has defended the interests of Albanians in the region both through direct engagement and through diplomacy.

Referring to the protests, Vengu criticized calls for “revolution,” arguing that destabilizing Tirana does not serve the national interest.

“Therefore, whoever thinks they are serving the nation by chanting ‘revolution’ in Tirana does not understand the scale of the times. Tirana is not simply the capital of Albania. It is the political, economic and diplomatic center of gravity for Albanians in Southeastern Europe,” Vengu wrote.

According to him, the capital represents the political, economic and diplomatic center of Albanians in the region.

“To destabilize it is not a patriotic act. It is a luxury that the Albanian nation cannot afford,” he said.

At the end of his message, the socialist MP called on the protesters not to confuse patriotism with what he described as “tutelage over Albania.”

“P.S. A friendly piece of advice for the revolutionaries with GPS who come down only to Tirana. Do not confuse love for the nation with tutelage over Albania. We know how to criticize our own government ourselves. But we will not let anyone weaken the mother state in the name of patriotism,” he said.

Vengu concluded his reaction by stressing that Albanians have only one strategic center of gravity and that this is “a strong Albania.”

“Because Albanians have two states, are a state-forming nation in North Macedonia and a Europeanizing minority in Montenegro and Serbia. But they have only one strategic center of gravity. And that is a strong Albania.

‘New Albania’ may sound good as a chant. A strong Albania is far more difficult as a task. I choose the task,” the Socialist Party MP said.

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