After speeches delivered in front of the Prime Minister’s Office building, the demonstrators set off on a march through the streets of the capital, expressing their opposition to the government and the political class.

During the march, chants were heard such as “Your end has come,” “Revolution,” “More tomorrow,” “Arrest Rama,” “Rama in prison, Berisha in prison,” and “Albania demands revolution.”

The protesters declared that they would continue without backing down until Prime Minister Edi Rama is removed, while the march continued for several hours through Tirana’s main streets.

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Tare draws attention to a historical episode from 1822, which he links to the political developments and protests in Tirana.

Tare writes about what he calls the “Battle of Athens,” recalling the clash between two forces on the plains of Athens, where Albanians were on both sides of the conflict.

“On one side was Captain Jani Gura, the son of an Albanian family settled in Thessaly, the leader of the forces that history would call Greek.

On the other side stood Omer Pasha Vrioni, scion of the great Vrioni family, an Albanian general in the service of Ali Pasha Tepelena, the Khedives of Egypt and the Ottoman Empire, sent to crush the Greek uprising.

On the plains of ancient Athens, it was not only two armies that met. It was two Albanians, each under a flag that was not his own. One fought for Istanbul, the other for Athens. Albania was in neither camp,” Auron Tare writes, among other things.

Auron Tare’s post:

“The Battle of Athens”

As the Boulevard protest enters its second month, it is worth pausing for a moment on a page of history, one of those that Albanians write with their blood, but that are usually read by others.

Albanians have had a strange fate. They have built empires, upheld kingdoms, led uprisings and revolutions, but when it comes to their own country, they always remain spectators. They are masters at making the history of other nations and poor students when it comes to writing the history of Albania. Perhaps, I say this with hope, this protest will bring a different Albania, where Albanians will finally learn to fight for themselves too.

In July 1822, on the plains of Athens, where the ancient Athenians once halted the advance of undefeated Persia, two armies clashed. But if we were to remove the flags and uniforms, we would see a strange picture: on both sides stood Albanians.

On one side was Captain Jani Gura, the son of an Albanian family settled in Thessaly, the leader of the forces that history would call Greek.

On the other side stood Omer Pasha Vrioni, scion of the great Vrioni family, an Albanian general in the service of Ali Pasha Tepelena, the Khedives of Egypt and the Ottoman Empire, sent to crush the Greek uprising.

On the plains of ancient Athens, it was not only two armies that met. It was two Albanians, each under a flag that was not his own. One fought for Istanbul, the other for Athens. Albania was in neither camp.

This is our long tragedy. History preserved both their names, but also changed their homeland. One was declared a hero of Greece, the other was left on the pages of Ottoman history. Albania could claim neither of them.

This is, perhaps, our greatest curse. Albanians have known how to win battles for everyone, except they have not known how to win them for themselves.

And when a nation gives its sons to the history of others, it should not be surprised if, one day, its own history remains written by others.

As always.

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According to a report published by the American media outlet Fox News, demonstrators are demanding the resignation not only of Rama, but also of opposition leader Sali Berisha, holding both main political camps responsible for the corruption accumulated over more than three decades since the fall of communism.

Protests calling for Rama’s removal have continued in several cities, with repeated public participation and demands that, according to the report, go beyond the usual political rotation.

One of the elements that has sparked debate, according to the article, is the plan to build two luxury resorts on the Albanian coast by investors linked to American businessman Jared Kushner.

The project, worth several billion dollars, envisions the development of around 10,000 hotel rooms and tourist villas on Sazan Island and in the Zvërnec area.

Sazan Island, a former military base, and the Zvërnec area, near the protected Vjosë–Nartë landscape, have become the subject of debate over the possible impact on the environment and biodiversity, including protected species such as flamingos, Mediterranean monk seals, and sea turtles.

Former Albanian ambassador to the United States and the United Nations Agim Nesho is quoted by Fox News as saying that the protests are not directed against foreign investors or the family of the American president, but against the way the country is being governed.

“Investors are bringing around $4 billion into Albania, creating jobs and opportunities for young people. The problem is not the investors, but the way the country has been managed by the current government,” Nesho said.

He also added the claim that the most recent parliamentary elections have not been recognized by the United States and that the current government has consolidated a strong political majority.

Meanwhile, journalist Eric Czuleger, who has lived in Albania for years and follows political developments, has said that the government initially downplayed the protests, but later described them as part of a “hybrid war” influenced by external actors.

For its part, the Albanian government has defended the tourism projects, stressing that Sazan Island remains state property and is not for sale, while the land in Zvërnec is privately owned.

In a response to Fox News, the authorities said that every project will be subject to a full environmental impact assessment and denied changing the status of protected areas to pave the way for investments.

However, according to the report, the European Parliament has called for a halt to construction in protected areas in Albania and for a moratorium on new construction permits in these territories.

One of the project’s representatives on Sazan, Asher Abehsera, said that the goal is to develop a tourist destination with international standards, emphasizing the balance between economic development and environmental protection.

As the protests continue, organizers are demanding the government’s resignation and new elections, while artist Florjan Binaj has described the demonstrations as among the largest since 1991, confirming his continued participation.

According to protesters quoted by Fox News, perceived corruption and the lack of accountability remain the main reasons for the discontent, while a new electoral process under international monitoring is being demanded.

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According to a report published by the American media outlet Fox News, demonstrators are calling not only for Rama’s resignation, but also for the resignation of opposition leader Sali Berisha, holding both main political camps responsible for the corruption accumulated over more than three decades since the fall of communism.

Protests demanding Rama’s removal have continued in several cities, with repeated public participation and demands that, according to the report, go beyond the usual political rotation.

One of the elements that has fueled debate, according to the article, is the plan to build two luxury resorts on the Albanian coast by investors linked to American businessman Jared Kushner.

The project, worth several billion dollars, предусматриes the development of around 10,000 hotel rooms and tourist villas on Sazan Island and in the Zvërnec area.

Sazan Island, a former military base, and the Zvërnec area, near the protected Vjosa–Narta landscape, have become the subject of debate over the possible impact on the environment and biodiversity, including protected species such as flamingos, Mediterranean seals, and sea turtles.

Former Albanian ambassador to the United States and the UN, Agim Nesho, is quoted by Fox News as saying that the protests are not directed against foreign investors or the family of the American president, but against the way the country is being governed.

“Investors are bringing around $4 billion to Albania, creating jobs and opportunities for young people. The problem is not the investors, but the way the country has been managed by the current government,” Nesho said.

He also added the claim that the most recent parliamentary elections have not been recognized by the United States and that the current government has consolidated a strong political majority.

Meanwhile, journalist Eric Czuleger, who has lived in Albania for years and follows political developments, has stated that the government initially downplayed the protests and later described them as part of a “hybrid war” influenced by external actors.

For its part, the Albanian government has defended the tourism projects, emphasizing that Sazan Island remains state property and is not being sold, while the land in Zvërnec is privately owned.

In a response to Fox News, the authorities said that every project will be subject to a full environmental impact assessment and denied changing the status of protected areas to pave the way for investments.

However, according to the report, the European Parliament has called for a halt to construction in protected areas in Albania and the imposition of a moratorium on new construction permits in these territories.

One of the representatives of the project on Sazan, Asher Abehsera, said the goal is to develop a tourist destination with international standards, emphasizing the balance between economic development and environmental protection.

As the protests continue, organizers are demanding the government’s resignation and new elections, while artist Florjan Binaj has described the demonstrations as among the largest since 1991, confirming his continued participation.

According to protesters quoted by Fox News, perceived corruption and the lack of accountability remain the main reasons for the discontent, while a new electoral process under international monitoring is being demanded.

The post Pressure mounts on Rama! Massive protests in Albania, Fox News: Citizens demand the prime minister’s resignation amid corruption allegations and political crisis appeared first on Albeu.com.

The protesters are continuing their resistance and warn that they will not back down until Edi Rama is removed.

Last night, after a kilometer-long march through the streets of Tirana, citizens decided to remain once again in front of the Prime Minister’s Office, where they also spent the night.

The protesters are continuing their resistance and warn that they will not back down until Edi Rama is removed.

The post Today marks the 23rd day of the protest / Streets and squares filled for Rama’s removal, determined citizens spend the night in front of the Prime Minister’s Office appeared first on Albeu.com.

The protests were sparked by public anger after the violent behavior of private security guards at the site of a planned coastal development financed by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and investors from the Persian Gulf, at an estimated cost of more than $4 billion.

To the American left, Albanians are resisting the corruption of the Trump family and what they call predatory billionaires.

Right-wing conspiracy theorists have embraced another theory: they see opposition to Israel and to alleged plans for what they call “a new Epstein island” on the southern coast of one of Europe’s poorest countries.

But the Albanians taking part in the protests agree with neither of these explanations.

“We are protesting against everything else,” he added, complaining that Albania has been governed since the fall of communism, 35 years ago, by the same politicians who look after their own interests, move in and out of power, give state contracts to their business friends and pay little attention to the economic problems and concerns of ordinary people.

The protests began after a video circulated online showing private security guards, on May 30, forcibly dragging away a man who had joined several dozen residents and environmental activists on a beach in southern Albania that Kushner wants to include in the proposed luxury hotel and resort project.

They had gathered to protest the sudden appearance of a metal fence topped with barbed wire on the beach, which lies in an area designated a “protected landscape,” a category that allows construction, near the village of Zvernec. The area and the mostly uninhabited nearby island of Sazan are both part of the proposed development plan.

Sazan Real Estate Development LLC, the Kushner-linked company overseeing the project, said the guards who assaulted the protester were employed by a third-party security company. “The incident is troubling and does not reflect the standards we expect from any party working in connection with the project,” the company said.

The government tried to quell public anger by revoking the licenses of the two private security companies involved in the beach incident, dismissing the local police chief and ordering the fence removed.

Even so, the protests continued, turning Tirana’s central boulevard into a nightly gathering attended by both young and old, giving life to what has been called the “flamingo revolution,” a reference to the birds that are a treasure of the protected area.

Every night, a large banner in English is unfurled reading: “Albania is not for sale.”

Rama said in an interview that in January he had met in Tirana with Ivanka Trump, who is married to Kushner, as well as with a team of architects involved in the proposed project.

But he insisted that no contract has been signed and no building permit has been issued. The island at the center of the project, he said, belongs to the state and has not been sold, nor will it be sold.

Claims online that construction has already begun, Rama said, are part of a “hurricane of digital hysteria,” although he acknowledged that there have been some “site preparations,” including laying a gravel road through the forest.

While some protesters, eager to attract the attention of foreign television networks, have carried signs in English against Kushner and Ivanka Trump, the main targets of their anger are Rama, 61, who has been part of the government since 1998, and former Prime Minister Sali Berisha, 81, leader of the main opposition party.

Protesters have chanted: “Rama in prison, Berisha in prison.”

Rama, who secured a fourth term as prime minister last year when the Socialist Party won the election decisively, said Albanians are being used as “cannon fodder” in “a war in the United States and Europe against Trump.”

An online flood of exaggerated claims about the number of protesters, misinformation about their aims and false reports of violent clashes, he said, shows that “democracies are committing suicide” by “allowing this poison and this infection to completely erode their bodies.”

“Democracy without truth is no longer democracy,” he added.

Even so, the government itself has also contributed to the online clash, with claims that Iran has stirred the protests in retaliation against Albania for hosting the Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen Khalq.

Other officials have claimed that the tourism industry in neighboring Greece, worried about competition from Albania, has even incited and financed the protesters.

Elez Biberaj, a political scientist and former head of the Albanian Service of Voice of America, said the protests are not against the Trump family but “reflect the collapse of public trust in the entire political system” in Albania.

That has largely been lost in translation, turning the internal problems of one of Europe’s poorest, most pro-American and smallest countries — with fewer than three million inhabitants — into a global symbolic issue for both the left and the right on platforms such as TikTok, X and Instagram.

Lutfi Dervishi, 58, an independent political analyst, said he himself had grown up before the fall of the communist system and had always seen the United States as a symbol of the rule of law and media freedom.

“I never would have imagined, not even in my wildest dreams, that Americans would seek inspiration from Albania,” he said.

The protesters have mainly inspired American progressives. Senator Bernie Sanders saluted them on X as the vanguard of resistance against “global oligarchy,” writing that Albania has risen up against an “environmentally catastrophic luxury resort planned by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his billionaire partners from Qatar.”

Rachel Maddow, the liberal television news host, praised the “mass protests against Donald Trump and his family’s corruption.”

Some figures on the American right have also found reason to support the protests. Alex Jones, the well-known conspiracy theorist, praised the protesters for their effort to reclaim land “from Israel, Kushner, the Rothschilds and Ivanka Trump,” claiming that Albania “is descending into civil war,” with “bomb blasts and machine-gun attacks.”

None of those claims is true.

Videos filmed years earlier during unrest in Tirana have in recent days been presented online as violence caused by Albanians’ anger against Trump and his family.

Meanwhile, a large gathering of Spanish football fans near a beach in northern Spain has been labeled online as a protest against Trump in Tirana.

Online support for the Albanian protests has at times also slipped into openly anti-Semitic statements. Some claim that Jews want to occupy parts of Albania and impose on Albanians, most of whom are nominally Muslim, the same fate as the Palestinians.

Such claims have led some protesters to worry that foreign activists are trying to hijack their cause.

Baki Goxhaj, 41, a practicing Muslim and pro-Palestinian activist in Vlora, travels every day to Tirana to take part in the protests with his wife.

“I have told others: Don’t shout ‘Down with the Jews,’” he said.

“This movement is not against Trump, nor is it against Jews. It is against our very corrupt government.”

What Goxhaj and many others see as corruption is often linked to the sale and use of land, an extremely sensitive issue in Albania, where former communist dictator Enver Hoxha confiscated all private property after taking power in 1944.

When communism ended, Albanian courts were confronted with a flood of competing ownership claims from former owners and their descendants.

Gentian Mocka, 56, said his family has fought for decades in the courts to recover more than 91 hectares of land confiscated by the communist regime.

The property, he said, was later fraudulently appropriated by a local lawyer who worked for Artur Shehu, an Albanian living in Miami, and is part of the parcel of land sold to Kushner’s Qatari partners for the luxury resort project.

The Special Structure Against Corruption and Organized Crime last week issued an arrest warrant for Artur Shehu, a naturalized American citizen, accusing him of buying land and using construction projects in Albania to launder drug traffickers’ money. The proceeds from the sale of his land to the Qatari buyers have been frozen, Rama said, but the sale itself remains in force.

Shehu did not respond to requests for comment. Earlier he had called the accusations of meetings with drug traffickers “fake news” and said he had arranged the land sale to Kushner and the investors through an intermediary whose name he did not disclose.

Mocka said that if he manages to recover the land, he would be willing to sell it for Kushner’s project. “The whole family will sell it and simply wants this story to end,” he said.

Rama said protesters are free to gather peacefully in front of his office, adding: “Albania is not a dictatorship.”

But he insisted that the protests will not stop Kushner’s resort project. “It will not be canceled,” he said. “That is certain.”

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