The Prime Minister has ruled out resignation as an option, while political analysts argue that a political solution is urgently needed to prevent a further escalation of tensions.
BIRN – Blerina Gjoka
In the early hours of Thursday morning, the streets of Tirana were flooded with young protesters, including university and high school students who boycotted classes to demonstrate against the government. They were joined by high school students from the city of Kamza, while the wave of unrest spread to several other cities across Albania.
Demonstrators clashed with police forces attempting to disperse the crowds using tear gas and batons.
Images of confrontations between young protesters and police officers, as well as acts of violence against public buildings and private businesses, circulated widely in the media and on social networks from several locations in Tirana and cities including Shkodra, Durrës, and Korça.
The protesters’ central demand is the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama. Young demonstrators have also voiced demands for better education, improved living conditions, and greater employment opportunities.
However, Prime Minister Edi Rama and his government have offered neither a concrete solution nor any measures to resolve the crisis gripping the country, following the escalation of four months of peaceful demonstrations into violent unrest over the past three days.
The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to BIRN’s inquiry about whether Rama had considered resigning as a means of resolving the crisis. However, in a statement to Reuters, he explicitly ruled out resignation.
“My responsibility is to listen, address legitimate concerns, and keep Albania moving forward. Any other alternative would be a betrayal of the Albanians who gave me a strong mandate to complete the negotiations for membership in the European Union,” Rama told Reuters.
Earlier, in a video recorded on Wednesday inside a fire-damaged building near the Prime Minister’s Office, Rama blamed the opposition for the violence and warned that those responsible for attacks on public institutions would face legal consequences.
Political analysts argue that the escalation of protests has created a crisis that requires a political solution. They warn that the Prime Minister’s failure to acknowledge the underlying causes of the unrest could deepen the crisis and potentially lead to civil confrontation.
In a public statement, the Political Dialogue Forum, an initiative established by a group of intellectuals, experts, and public figures, called for a political solution.
“The government continues to respond to the crisis by ignoring its underlying causes and producing propaganda that no one believes anymore. This propaganda is directing attention toward the secondary consequences of the revolt rather than its root causes,” the Forum stated.
Expressing solidarity with the demands of students and citizens, the Forum proposed the establishment of a caretaker government with a limited mandate to prepare free and fair elections and continue the European integration process.
It also called for electoral reform, including the adoption of a new electoral code reflecting the representative needs of Albanian citizens, and early parliamentary elections before the end of the year.
“A new system must free the state from the party and free the economy from politics,” the statement concluded.
One of the Forum’s founders, political science lecturer Ermal Hasimja, told BIRN that the current crisis “can only have a political solution,” implying that the Prime Minister should resign.
“It cannot be resolved with police officers or public relations tricks, which Rama always attempts to use to avoid confronting crises,” Hasimja said.
“Naturally, Rama will not agree to resign, and consequently the crisis will deepen,” he added.
According to Hasimja, even if Rama succeeds in calming the current protests, another wave of unrest is likely to emerge before long because the fundamental causes of public dissatisfaction remain unresolved.
Political analyst Andri Nurellari shares a similar assessment. He argues that treating the protests exclusively as a public order issue and resorting to excessive police force could intensify tensions, radicalize young people, and broaden public dissatisfaction.
“You can disperse a protest with tear gas, but you cannot eliminate the problem that caused it with tear gas,” Nurellari told BIRN.
He described the situation as fundamentally “a political crisis, a crisis of trust, and a crisis of representation,” which therefore requires “a political solution and the government taking responsibility.”
Nurellari proposed three concrete steps for the government.
First, de-escalation and restraint by all parties, avoiding violence, respecting private property, ensuring proportionality in police interventions, and establishing individual accountability for incidents without resorting to collective punishment.
Second, the government must assume political responsibility by investigating abuses, listening to protesters’ demands, and providing concrete responses to public grievances.
Third, the authorities should open the way for a political and institutional solution through dialogue, accountability, and democratic mechanisms capable of restoring public trust and legitimacy.
“The longer the political response is delayed, the greater the risk that the crisis will deepen, young people will become radicalized, and the revolt will spread,” Nurellari warned.
Journalist Armand Shkullaku also believes there is only one solution: the resignation of the Prime Minister.
If Rama refuses to step down, Shkullaku warns, “the country will face even more serious consequences.”
“If Rama’s resignation today would bring this chapter to a close with several burned buildings and a number of injured civilians, clinging to power at any cost could push the country into a social conflict,” he told BIRN.
Regarding other actors who could influence the resolution of the crisis, Shkullaku argued that the media, businesses, civil society, and international partners should not focus exclusively on condemning violence but should also address the underlying causes that produced the crisis.
“A Country Held Hostage”
Since coming to power in 2013, Edi Rama has fostered what critics describe as a “cult of personality” within the Socialist Party and concentrated political power in his own hands as Prime Minister, while other democratic institutions have progressively weakened under his administration.
The anger expressed during the protests has also been directed primarily at Rama personally.
For months, Rama has chosen to ignore protesters’ demands, treating the situation as a communications crisis and relying on propaganda and new communication platforms, including initiatives such as “Prania Besnike” and “PasqyrAlbania.”
Even after peaceful demonstrations escalated into violent confrontations, rather than engaging in political reflection, Rama continued to blame his political opponents and threaten legal action against those responsible for acts of violence.
Shkullaku remains pessimistic about the possibility of a political solution initiated by the Prime Minister.
“Of course, Rama may have considered resignation, either now or earlier, when he was mocking the peaceful protests. But for him, it is already too late, and he knows it,” Shkullaku argued.
According to the journalist, this delay is connected to what he describes as the foundations of Rama’s political power, which he alleges have been built on abuse and criminality.
“Knowing that the end will mean either prison or leaving Albania, he will remain in power until the very end, inflicting yet another catastrophe on the country: civil confrontation,” Shkullaku predicted.
He characterized Rama’s behavior as “holding the country hostage.”
Shkullaku further argued that the Prime Minister would not resign because such a democratic act would be inconsistent with his political conduct.
“A man who has never respected a single democratic rule in his life cannot suddenly become a democrat at the very end,” Shkullaku concluded.
