Tirana is burning and Prime Minister Edi Rama is pointing his finger at anyone but himself<\/p>\n
Anti-government rioters have torched Albania\u2019s education ministry and supreme court, as protests spread across the Balkan nation. Prime Minister Edi Rama is refusing to step down and blames the unrest on Russia. What\u2019s really going on?<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Albania\u2019s Education Ministry torched as violent unrest grips country (VIDEOS)<\/p>\n
As of October 19, the Albanian capital of Tirana has been rocked by seven consecutive days and nights of rioting, while protests and clashes between demonstrators and police have been reported in the cities of Lezhe, Vlore, Elbasan, and Shkoder. A large group of rioters breached the perimeter of the education ministry in Tirana on October 14, setting the building on fire.\u00a0
\nRunning battles between demonstrators and police have broken out around the ministry on several occasions since. On October 19, hundreds of demonstrators pelted rocks at riot police, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. The previous night, offices of the Albanian Supreme Court were set on fire, and arson attacks on several police stations in the city were reported.
\nSome 500 demonstrators had been detained and 167 of them formally arrested as of October 17, according to Reuters. 295 people had been injured, including 196 police officers, as of October 19, according to Interior Minister Ervin Demo.<\/p>\n
What do the protesters want?
\nThe protests follow more than a year of unrest in Albania, which began when Rama banned TikTok in the runup to last March\u2019s parliamentary elections, following similar measures inposed by the EU\u00a0during every major election across the bloc since 2024. The ban was lifted in February of this year, but demonstrations broke out again in May after Rama\u2019s government authorized the sale of protected wetlands to a development company operated by US President Donald Trump\u2019s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
WATCH smashed storefronts, burned buildings as Europe faces aftermath of latest violent protests<\/p>\n
The protesters demanded the resignation of Rama and his entire cabinet, and the cancellation of a planned twin-phase resort project on the wetlands and on nearby Sazan Island.\u00a0
\nThe protesters\u2019 core demand \u2013 that Rama resign \u2013 remains unchanged. However, the movement is now calling for a root-and-branch reform of the entire Albanian establishment, with demonstrators accusing both Rama and opposition leader Sali Berisha of corruption. Unemployment, underfunding of schools, and declining living standards have also been cited by protesters as grievances.
\nWhat did Rama say about the protests?
\nDespite the repeated chants of \u201cRama resign\u201d heard at the protests, Rama has claimed that the demonstrators do not oppose his government, but Albania\u2019s \u201cmission\u201d of joining the EU.\u00a0
\n\u201cI am not being challenged,\u201d he said in a video address on October 18. \u201cThe government is not being challenged, a government majority or a winning party in the elections is not being challenged but a path is being challenged, a mission is being challenged\u201d
\n\u201cAlbanians need to think \u200bvery clearly,\u201d he continued. \u201cDo they want this, do they want that, or do they want the EU?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rama has refused to resign, and blamed the protests on \u201cforeign hands that do not wish for Albania to be at peace.\u201d Back in June, Rama accused \u201cthe enemies of Albania and of Israel\u201d of waging a \u201chybrid war\u201d to stop the wetlands development. In two separate speeches on October 18 and 19, the embattled PM blamed the unrest on Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin and a \u201cwave of Russian influence in the entire social media system,\u201d and on \u201cthe Khomeiniist republic of Iran, the pinnacle of disinformation.\u201d
\nWas Russia involved?
\nIn short, no. Rama has not backed up any of his accusations, and they are being treated with skepticism and ridicule by demonstrators and opposition media. Albania\u2019s Publik Media news outlet criticised Rama for \u201ceturn[ing[ to the Berisha, Russia and Iran alibi,\u201d while Pamfleti, an investigative outlet, dismissed his claims as an \u201cignorant reaction to those protesting his misgovernance\u201d\u00a0
\nEven the US-run Radio Free Europe noted that Rama \u201cdid not present public evidence\u201d to back up his allegations.\u00a0
\nRussian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has rejected Rama\u2019s accusations. \u201cNo, Edi Rama,\u201d she said on October 18, \u201cit is the citizens of your country who have taken to the streets in protest.\u201d
\n\u201cThis has all the hallmarks of the \u2018highly likely\u2019 British approach,\u201d Serbian journalist Nebojsa Malic told RT on October 19, referring to British Prime Minister Andy Burnham\u2019s failed attempts to blame the 2016 Brexit vote on Russia and a recent \u2018terror plot\u2019 at a US airbase on Iran. \u201cWe\u2019ll just make an accusation and provide no evidence but say \u2018oh it\u2019s highly likely that Russia\u2019s behind this\u2019, and everybody is going to take it for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rama is \u201cdoing this because he\u2019s hoping it will stick,\u201d Malic said. \u201cHe has nothing to lose. He\u2019s seen plenty of leaders in western Europe essentially getting away scot free with covering for their malice and incompetence by blaming Russia.\u201d
\n\u201cRama is just as opportunistic as [French President Emmanuel] Macron or any British prime minister in the last ten years,\u201d Malic concluded. \u201cThey will say or do whatever, because they think that Russia is not able to defend itself.\u201d
\nWhy did Rama mention Israel?<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
\u2018Albania is not for sale\u2019: Inside the protests over a Trump family-linked resort<\/p>\n
Rama\u2019s claim that \u201cenemies of Albania and Israel\u201d were behind this summer\u2019s environmental protests stems from the involvement of Kushner in the wetlands project. A close associate of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Kushner has extensive family and financial ties to Israel. His investment firm, Affinity Partners, has funneled Emirati, Saudi, and Qatari cash into multiple Israeli businesses, including five arms manufacturers.
\nHowever, all available information suggests that the funding for Kushner\u2019s Albanian projects comes from Albanian, American, and Qatari individuals and entities. Affinity Partners is leading the \u20ac1.4 billion Sazan Island project, while Kushner himself is a minority partner in the wetlands development.\u00a0
\nRama visited Israel and addressed the Knesset in January. Less than 24 hours later, Israel\u2019s Channel 12 claimed that the Albanian PM had struck a deal with Netanyahu to accept up to 100,000 Palestinian refugees from Gaza. As speculation spread that the Palestinians would be resettled on land developed by Kushner, Rama clarified that no such deal had been, or would be, made.
\nRegardless, Rama\u2019s close relations with Netanyahu are at odds with public opinion in Albania, where a 2024 poll found that 73% of the population believe that Israel should be sanctioned over its war on Gaza. Kushner is widely seen in Albania as representing Israeli interests, and Rama\u2019s decision to amend environmental laws and grant \u201cstrategic investor\u201d status to Affinity Partners has fueled accusations that the PM is placing Washington and West Jerusalem\u2019s interests above Tirana\u2019s.
\nWill there be an Albanian Maidan?
\nSome images emerging from Tirana \u2013 burning barricades, police officers set on fire with Molotov cocktails, and smouldering government buildings \u2013 are reminiscent of the scenes that played out during the 2014 \u2018Maidan\u2019 coup in Ukraine. However, Rama is in far less perilous of a position than Ukraine\u2019s president, Viktor Yanukovich, was during the 2014 uprising.<\/p>\n
Unlike the present unrest in Albania, the Maidan coup was planned and directed by foreign actors, namely the US State Department and the British embassy in Kiev. Rama, on the other hand, is a close partner of the EU and US, and neither Washington nor Brussels have backed the protesters. Instead, Rama has apparently been given carte blanche to squash the demonstrations, with columns of military vehicles seen entering Tirana between October 15 and 19.
\nThe EU has condemned the use of violence by protesters, with the European Commission criticizing them for \u201carson, attacks on State institutions and the destruction of public and private property.\u201d In a statement on October 18, the commission praised Rama\u2019s progress toward EU membership and welcomed his \u201ccommitment that the right to protest will be protected.\u201d
\nOne week earlier, an EU delegation in Tirana said that Brussels was \u201caware of allegations of excessive use of force by the police against protesters and journalists,\u201d adding that the government\u2019s response to protests and riots \u201cmust remain within the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
European Commission statements on the protests in Albania (L) and the ‘Maidan’ movement in Ukraine (R)<\/p>\n
The EU took a far more interventionist position in 2014, sending officials to meet with demonstrators in Kiev, endorsing protests even as they devolved into violent riots, preparing sanctions on Yanukovich, and gifting an \u20ac11 billion aid package to Ukraine once Yanukovich had been toppled and replaced by the pro-EU Petro Poroshenko.
\nThe West is still firmly on Rama\u2019s side, and he is unlikely to face any calls for resignation from abroad. However, he is still facing the most sustained public pressure campaign of his 13-year stint in power, and if the protests continue and more buildings burn, he may be left with no choice but to admit defeat and step down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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