Albanian PM Rama refuses to resign on sixth day of protests
Ties his survival to EU accession talks, 272 injured since Tuesday as police station burns in Tirana
Images
Los fuegos artificiales explotan junto a agentes de policía con equipo antidisturbios durante enfrentamientos en una protesta antigubernamental de estudiantes en Tirana, Albania, el 18 de octubre de 2026. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki
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El primer ministro albanés, Edi Rama, aclaró que no renunciará pese a las violentas protestas en el país (REUTERS/Florion Goga)
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Los manifestantes exigen la renuncia del primer ministro Edi Rama (REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki)
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Oficiales de policía con equipo antidisturbios se reúnen durante una protesta antigubernamental de estudiantes en Tirana, Albania, el 18 de octubre de 2026. REUTERS/Florion Goga
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Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama refused to resign on Sunday, the sixth day of student-driven protests in Tirana, arguing that what is at stake is not his power but "the negotiating table with the European Union." In a video message of more than an hour posted to Facebook, Rama told Albanians to think clearly: "do they want or not want to enter the EU."
The day's clashes left 28 injured, according to the Health Ministry: 19 police officers, four protesters, four passers-by and one journalist. Protesters set fire to a police station and the entrance of the Interior Ministry, smashed windows at the Socialist Party headquarters and burned containers across the capital. Fourteen of the injured officers were hurt in the attack on the police station. Since the unrest began on Tuesday, official figures record 272 injured, 169 of them police, and 167 detained. Municipal workers have taken to removing cobblestones from streets so they cannot be thrown.
Rama has framed the unrest as the work of "foreign hands" rather than a student phenomenon. The government cancelled a Monday trip to Vienna, where Rama was to meet Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker, whose government backs Albania's EU accession. The European Commission condemned the violence and called for a proportionate response and dialogue; the US embassy appealed for moderation.
The movement began in May with the Flamingo protests against a luxury resort complex on the coast at Zvërnec and the island of Sazan — a project promoted by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, over the objections of environmentalists who say it threatens a protected wetland. A law passed by Rama's government in 2024 removed part of the wetland's protection. What began as an environmental campaign has widened into a general challenge to a government in power since 2013 and now in its fourth term, with students protesting deteriorating universities and the high cost of living and studying. In December 2018 a similar student wave over education costs forced Rama to dismiss eight ministers and announce a "Pact for the University."
Rama's calculation is explicit: Brussels needs a stable partner in the Balkans more than Tirana's students need a listening government, and accession leverage works as regime insurance as long as the negotiating table stays open. Demonstrations have spread to Lezhë, Elbasan and Durrës, a court, several banks and a post office have been burned or badly damaged, and the shops of central Tirana have closed behind metal shutters.