Albania’s protests reach sixth day with no education-cost deal

Seven police officers have been suspended as Albania investigates allegations that its response to student protests involved excessive force and mistreatment. The suspensions are a concrete step toward accountability, but not yet a finding of misconduct—and the confrontation on the streets has continued. ⁹⁸

Hundreds gathered outside the Education Ministry in Tirana around midday on Sunday, October 18, demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama’s resignation. Police later used water cannon and tear gas as the latest wave of demonstrations reached its sixth consecutive day. The crowd description applies to that gathering, not to everyone demonstrating across the capital. ¹²⁷

Rama again refused to step down. Between the government’s insistence that it will survive and the protesters’ demand that it leave, the original education grievances remain without an announced settlement: no quantified tuition reduction, financial-support package or dated route to negotiations has been established. Rama has offered discussion, not a costed remedy. ^{76 7}

The latest substantial police tally still ends on Saturday, October 17. It is not an updated count incorporating Sunday’s renewed unrest. ³⁸

Students are seeking better university conditions, lower tuition and other study costs, more financial support and better employment prospects. Their complaints have widened into a challenge to Rama’s government amid corruption allegations and anger over police conduct. That movement includes peaceful demonstrators; it cannot fairly be defined solely by the masked people who have attacked police and buildings. ^{4 1}

Rama’s answer rests on electoral legitimacy. In written responses to Reuters on October 15, he said: “As for calls for my resignation, governments are changed through democratic elections. We had elections last year, not a revolution.” He also expressed willingness to discuss education costs. ⁷

His Socialist Party won 83 of parliament’s 140 seats in the May 2025 election, and the next regular parliamentary election is due in 2029. That result gives substance to his argument that he has a mandate to govern. It does not, by itself, answer students asking what it should cost to study or what work awaits them afterward. ^{62 67}

On Sunday, Rama argued that the unrest threatened Albania’s progress toward European Union membership rather than his government’s survival. Albania’s ambition to join as early as 2028 remains a national target, not an agreed accession date. ^{76 3}

He has also blamed opposition involvement and alleged foreign interference while urging protesters to avoid violence. Those accusations do not establish who organized particular attacks, much less dispose of the underlying education demands. ^{77 7}

The October escalation has moved between education grievances and direct confrontation with the state. Thousands gathered outside the Education Ministry on Wednesday, October 14. Fires and attacks that day affected government buildings, banks and other property. By Thursday, demonstrations had spread to multiple cities. Those fires belong to Wednesday’s escalation, not to a newly established account of Sunday. ^{4 14 3}

Saturday brought a fifth day of confrontation. The BBC reported masked protesters throwing rocks and petrol bombs at police defending the ministry, with the focus shifting during the afternoon toward Rama’s office. Police used water cannon and volleys of tear gas. Other accounts described fireworks, burning barricades and stun grenades. ^{1 5}

Rubber-bullet use, initially left independently unconfirmed in the BBC account, was subsequently acknowledged by national police chief Skënder Hita. He described Saturday’s deployment as “in a limited manner” and defended the equipment as certified and permitted. That acknowledgment establishes use, not how many rounds were fired or whether every deployment was lawful and proportionate. Fresh rubber-bullet use on Sunday has not been established. ^{1 9 129 127}

Special RENEA police forces were also deployed on Saturday after a call alleging armed people among protesters. Police published that explanation on Sunday, but it described the previous day’s deployment. The allegation about armed protesters remains an allegation, not proof that the reported threat existed. ¹⁰⁷

The seven officer suspensions accompanied investigations into allegations including exceeding authority, failing to observe proportionality and mistreating protesters. Their significance should neither be dismissed nor exaggerated: officers have been removed from duty while investigators examine their actions, but final disciplinary outcomes remain unknown. Hita’s general defense of police equipment cannot settle those individual cases. ^{98 102 101}

At Saturday’s briefing, Hita also announced 388 other people facing criminal proceedings. The wording presents them as additional to those arrested, but no underlying case list or counting methodology establishes a verified total of unique people across the categories. The BBC separately reported 80 people charged with disorder. Arrest, detention, proceedings and a formal charge are different legal stages; adding those figures would risk counting people more than once. ^{98 1}

The earlier Wednesday arrest figure needs particular care. The Guardian’s October 15 account described 65 arrests. More specific reporting of the police announcement by Euronews Albania and Faxweb gives 55 formal arrests, including two minors, and proceedings involving 98 others. RTSH separately reported 65 people taken into police custody—a category distinct from formal arrest. That distinction may explain the earlier description, but the accounts have not been fully reconciled. The supported formal-arrest figure for that announcement is 55, and it falls within the period covered by the later five-day tally. ^{3 117 122 118}

The human toll is less complete still. There is no established cumulative count of injured protesters comparable to the police figure for officers. A Health Ministry update reported by the Albanian Telegraphic Agency on October 15 said 89 people received treatment after Wednesday’s protest, drawing on information from two hospitals. Six remained hospitalized at the Trauma Hospital that morning. Treatment numbers are not automatically a complete injury count. ¹¹⁶

Early officer-injury accounts also differ. Euronews Albania’s October 15 report of the police announcement gave 51; a Guardian caption used 61; and ATA reported Hita saying 71. Their definitions and reporting cutoffs have not been reconciled. They cannot be treated as a clean sequence, or subtracted from the 89 hospital patients to produce a protester injury total. ^{117 3 120}

The six-day count describes this latest wave, not the movement’s entire history. Demonstrations stretch back to early June. Opposition to a proposed luxury resort on Albania’s southern coast, backed by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, helped build the longer campaign. The project has faced legal challenges, and the movement—sometimes called the Flamingo Revolution—has linked environmental concerns to arguments about corruption, protected land and strategic investment. That background does not mean every student shares an identical set of demands about the resort. ^{1 3 13}

A separate corruption investigation has added pressure around Rama’s administration. Businessman Ergys Agasi was arrested in late August, while former intelligence chief Vlora Hyseni was placed under house arrest and suspended in September over allegations connected to him. Agasi denies wrongdoing, and Rama denies knowing about illegal transactions. The case is parallel political context, not an established explanation for the student clashes. ^{48 51 1}

The European Commission’s October 18 statement addressed both sides of the immediate crisis. It condemned violence, including arson and attacks on institutions, while insisting that the response remain lawful and proportionate. It affirmed freedom of assembly and expression and welcomed the authorities’ commitment to protect protest rights. ⁷⁵