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"Violence is the extortion of ministers against Albanians", Berisha speaks after the protest to 'Politico', Rama responds: They are not enemies, but...
2025-12-23 21:39:23 / POLITIKË
Following the opposition protest on Monday in front of the Prime Minister's Office, Edi Rama and the leader of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, spoke to 'Politico'.
While Berisha stated that the violence is the ministers' extortion of Albanians, Prime Minister Rama responded that the DP protesters are not enemies but desperate fellow citizens.
Thousands of people gathered in Albania's capital, Tirana, on Monday as the opposition demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama over corruption allegations against his deputy, Belinda Balluku, whose parliamentary immunity has so far blocked her arrest.
The political crisis in the Balkan country has been building for weeks, since anti-corruption prosecutors accused Balluk of meddling in major state contracts. It reached a peak on Monday evening when Molotov cocktails were thrown at Rama's office.
Four protesters were arrested during the clashes and seven others were placed under investigation. Two police officers were injured and one protester accidentally set himself on fire, local media reported.
The protest, organized by veteran opposition leader Sali Berisha and his Democratic Party, followed scenes of chaos in Albania's parliament last week, when police intervened after lawmakers clashed and set off firecrackers inside the chamber.
“We do not tolerate any form of violence, especially violence perpetrated by those in power. There is no more blatant form of violence than the systematic extortion and plunder committed by Edi Rama and his ministers against the Albanian people,” Berisha told POLITICO on Tuesday through his spokesperson, saying the protests were intended to “stop this violence.”
Prosecutors and opposition lawmakers are pushing to lift Balluk's immunity so anti-corruption prosecutors can arrest and try him. Rama and his ruling Socialist Party have so far blocked the vote, saying they will await a ruling from the Constitutional Court expected in January.
Balluku is accused, along with several other officials and private companies, of manipulating public tenders to favor specific companies in major infrastructure projects, including the Tirana Ring Road and the Llogora Tunnel.
She has called the allegations against her “insinuations,” “half-truths,” and “lies” and has agreed to cooperate fully with the judicial process. Balluku is also the infrastructure minister, overseeing some of the country’s largest public projects.
Rama has also defended Balluk amid corruption allegations, accusing the anti-corruption agency, known as SPAK, of normalizing pre-trial arrests, saying they constitute "arrests without trial" and do not meet European democratic standards.
The prime minister told POLITICO in an interview on Wednesday that it was “normal” for SPAK to make mistakes, as it is a “newborn institution with a newborn independent power” that has made “many mistakes.”
When asked about his response Tuesday to the violent turn of the protests and calls for his resignation, Rama declined to comment. He said he did not want to criticize his political opponents, “because ultimately they are not enemies to be exposed to the world, but simply desperate fellow citizens, to be confronted and dealt with within the confines of our domestic political life.”
Berisha hit back, accusing Rama of stealing the elections and telling him that the time had come for him to leave.
“He has no legitimacy to stay in government even for one more day,” Berisha told POLITICO. Rama was re-elected in May for a fourth term.
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