Violence, looting of businesses and destruction of public property cannot be justified.
But even street violence cannot be used to avoid the most important question
why thousands of young people have taken to the streets and what political response they are getting
The protests of these days did not start today, but have been accumulating for months, culminating in March.,
where the government amnestied the corruption of Belinda Balluk.
The protest started with the cancellation of a project in Zvrnec, but again the voice of the citizens was silenced. Then the protesters demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Rama, not for his personal faults, but for the criminal, corrupt and abusive government scheme he had set up in Albania, by his own people.
It is enough to mention Ahmetaj, Veliaj, Agas, Ilir Beqaj, the Head of SHISH Vlora Hysen, arrested MPs like Jurgis Çyrbja, and even the untouchable Belinda Balluku.
This is the main reason, without adding the fact that it created a repressive justice system, with mass incarceration in recent years, comparable to those of the justice system.
A part of the protesters today are already demanding the departure of Edi Rama, while the prime minister has stated that he will not resign and that he is ready to discuss reforms in education.
The problem for Rama is that today's anger did not arise overnight. It has accumulated over the years and is burdened by a series of criminal cases that have affected important figures in power, the Socialist Party or institutions run by government appointees.
Ahmetaj, former number two of the government, today accused and wanted
Arben Ahmetaj was not a peripheral official. He was a minister for years and then deputy prime minister of Edi Rama.
Today SPAK has sent him for trial for nine episodes of passive corruption, money laundering and concealment or non-declaration of assets. He has been abroad for years and with an unexecuted security measure.
Criminal liability is personal and will be decided by the court. But political responsibility is another thing.
When the man you elevated to the post of deputy prime minister ends up in such a file, it cannot be treated as if it were a person completely alien to the government system.
Veliaj, the mayor of Tirana in prison
Erion Veliaj, one of the main figures of the Socialist Party and former minister of the Rama government, continues to be in “arrest in prison”.
SPAK sent him for trial on 13 charges, including nine episodes of passive corruption, money laundering, non-declaration of assets and abuse of office. Veliaj disputes the charges and is presumed innocent until a final verdict.
Even here, Rama is not criminally responsible for what the prosecution claims Veliaj did. But politically, when one of the main figures of the majority ends up in detention for such a file, the citizen has the right to ask if we are dealing with isolated cases or a wider problem of the power system.
Ergys Agasi and the file that affected the institutions
Even the case of Ergys Agasi is much more serious than an ordinary criminal story.
Agasi was not a member of the government, but his file took on an institutional dimension.
He has been arrested and is being investigated for, among others, illegal competition through violence, illegal deprivation of liberty, violation of equality in tenders, active corruption, money laundering and structured criminal group.
The political importance of the case lies in the fact that Agasi created a parallel state, appointed heads of institutions and indirectly benefited millions of euros from the public tenders of ANKSI.
Vlora Hyseni, the heartbeat of SHISH
The case of the former director of SHISH Vlora Hyseni is perhaps symbolically one of the most serious.
In September, the GJKKO assigned her “house arrest” and suspension from duty, while the SPAK investigates her for “supporting the perpetrator of the crime” and “disclosure of acts or secret information”. The investigation is related precisely to the suspected contacts with Agas.
Legally saying that Hyseni “destroyed SHISH” would be more than what has been proven so far.
But politically it is impossible to deny that the investigation and suspension of the head of the secret service constitutes a serious institutional and reputational blow to SHISH.
And Vlora Hyseni was a choice made by the current government.
Balluku, the file that keeps getting heavier
Then there is Belinda Balluku. She was one of the most powerful people in the Rama cabinet, Minister of Infrastructure and Energy and Deputy Prime Minister, until her dismissal in February 2026.
SPAK has taken him as a defendant for violation of equality in tenders, while the investigation has been expanded with suspicions of passive corruption and laundering of the proceeds of criminal offences. The prosecution has also seized two villas that it claims are in its indirect ownership.
Despite SPAK requesting authorization for her arrest, Balluku was not arrested. The issue has been one of the main sources of political tension during the year and fueled previous protests against the government.
Rama may not have criminal responsibility, but there is a question about political responsibility
A distinction must be made here that is often lost in the Albanian debate.
No one can automatically charge Edi Rama with criminal responsibility for the actions that the prosecution attributes to Ahmetaj, Veliaj, Balluk or other persons.
Criminal responsibility is individual, but there is also political responsibility. Who chose the ministers? Who supported them? Who promoted them? Who built the administration and political system in which these people took power
After more than a decade in government, it is increasingly difficult to present every scandal as just someone else's personal mistake.
In this sense, Ahmetaj, Veliaj, Balluku and the crises that have affected institutions like SHISH constitute a political cost for the Rama government, regardless of the final result that the courts will give in each file.
Rama is right when he condemns the burning of institutions, attacks on the police, looting of businesses and destruction of public property. But that's only half the problem. Stopping the violence does not mean that you have solved the reasons that produced the protest.
The student who complains about the fees, the young person who sees no job prospects, the family who faces the cost of living and the citizen who sees a series of corruption files at the top of the power demand a political response.
The real challenge for Edi Rama today is not only to restore order in the streets of Tirana.
It is to convince an increasingly angry part of society that after all these scandals, the system can be corrected and that political responsibility does not always end with the subordinate who appears in the next file./VOXNEWS
