Edi Rama has survived many storms in thirteen years as Albania’s prime minister, but rarely one like this. For a third straight day on Thursday, students fought riot police in central Tirana, hurling rocks while officers fired tear gas and turned water cannon on the crowds. Around 89 people have been hurt, 61 of them police officers, and the morning light revealed burned bank branches, smashed shopfronts and wrecked traffic lights.
The anger has been building since early summer. Daily rallies, dubbed a flamingo revolution after the birds whose lagoon habitat is at stake, began against a luxury resort planned on a protected stretch of the southern coast, including the island of Sazan. The project is backed by Affinity Partners, the investment firm of Jared Kushner, and would be worth about €4bn. Rama calls it a gift for the economy; critics see a coastline being sold off.
This week students took over the movement and broadened it. Their complaints centre on tuition costs, run-down universities and poor job prospects, with corruption as a common thread. On Tuesday night protesters broke into the education ministry and set it on fire; police reported 16 arrests. Rallies have since spread to university towns such as Elbasan and Shkodër.
Rama told Reuters he would not step down, arguing that only voters can remove a government and pointing to his fourth victory last year and his goal of joining the European Union by 2030. He offered talks on education costs while condemning the vandalism.
Some analysts doubt the students alone can topple him. In 2018 a similar wave over fees forced Rama to replace eight ministers, yet he stayed in office. Political scientist Afrim Krasniqi in Tirana sees a different mood now, with young people saying they are ready to risk injury or jail, and he declines to predict how the standoff will end.
