TIRANA – Albanian Interior Minister Ervin Demo met with senior police officials this morning to address the ongoing anti-government and student protests in the country. He stated that the previous day’s events had crossed a “red line,” declaring that the unrest could no longer be classified as student demonstrations, it was reported by Albanian Daily News.
Demo specifically pointed to an attack on police station in Tirana, where protesters targeted the building and injured officers defending the facility.
In addition, he called for maximum support for police officers, stressing their role in protecting citizens’ rights and maintaining public order.
According to him, “the Government and Prime Minister Edi Rama remain willing to engage in dialogue, but they will not accept the violence”.
The meeting with senior police officers followed six consecutive days of intense and violent protests across Albania demanding Edi Rama’s resignation, better university conditions, and action against corruption.
Demonstrators demanding Rama’s resignation have set fire to government buildings as well as banks, smashed shop windows and pulled up paving stones to throw at police.
Violence erupted again on 18 October, when thousands gathered outside the Education Ministry and hurled rocks at riot police who responded with tear gas, water cannon and rubber bulets, Reuters reported.
Rama has refused to step down, attributing the escalation to outside or “foreign hands” rather than genuine student grievances, and canceled a scheduled trip to Vienna to manage the crisis.
Speaking at a press conference this morning, Albanian Prime Minister once again took a firm stance against the recent protests, it was reported by Nacionale.com.
Holding a stone used to attack the state police, Rama stated that there will be no negotiations with those who use violence against the police.
“There will be no negotiations with anyone holding this. The state has fallen if it negotiates with them. The moment they win, their logic becomes the state itself. Albania has seen this scenario more than once, and the consequences have left scars. Very few protest peacefully. The young men and women protesting in this way do not want peace. They have been idealized under the pressure of that dark force that has emerged in Europe and the USA, which President Donald Trump has called a terrorist organization”, he claimed.
At the same, he defended the Albanian police and criticized the opposition for supporting these protests.
“This is happening in France, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, it will happen everywhere as warned, but in none of these countries has any political party come out to side with the perpetrators or to cheer for flames on institutions, to glorify the wood, the stone, the violence of some masked black-hooded individuals behind whom there are no students, no young men and women who want a better Albania”, Rama noted.
According to him, “there are only blind beings, uneducated people, who do not know where they come from or where they are going, victims of everything who worship the Molotov, the slingshots with screws that hit the skulls of police officers, worship chaos and then rush to the shops that gnaw at the sweat and blood of families living off those shops”.
Rama stressed that “Albanians need to think very clearly – do they want this, do they want that, or do they want the EU”.
The European Commission condemned the use of violence in Tirana and other cities in Albania, including arson, attacks on state institutions and the destruction of public and private property.
“Violence has no place in a democratic society, and the response to it must remain within the law and proportionate. Those responsible should be held to account through due process. Freedom of assembly and expression are fundamental rights and core European values, to be respected and exercised peacefully. We welcome the Albanian authorities’ commitment that the right to protest will be protected. In a candidate country firmly committed to the EU accession process and making important progress on its EU path, grievances should be handled through constructive dialogue and in a peaceful manner”, the press release notes.
