Albania: Students demanded political change and resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama

Empty lecture halls, burning buildings and calls for change: Albanian students are leading a protest movement that has become the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Edi Rama in years.

Can Albanian student protests create political change?

10/16/2026 October 16, 2026 Empty lecture halls, burning buildings and calls for change: Albanian students are leading a protest movement that has become the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Edi Rama in years.

The luxurious high-rises that will transform Tirana's skyline are set to project an image of a modern European capital. But at the foot of one of these buildings, Samantha, a 22-year-old master's student in economics, sheds tears.

He takes off the mask he was wearing to protect himself from the tear gas.

How can I afford an apartment in one of these towers with a salary of €540 [$608]? he shouts as he stands in front of a line of police officers. I share rent with people I don't even know because my family has moved. we are tired

Tirana University lecture halls are empty as students boycott classes and take to the streets to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama, who has been in power since 2013.

Albanians have been protesting since late May as part of a wider anti-government movement known as the "Flamingo Revolution" that began in response to a multimillion-euro tourism development linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, in the protected coastal zone of Zornik.

However, the movement has since become a broader challenge to the Rama government.

In the past three days, student protests have turned violent, with arrests, bins, businesses, buildings and banks set on fire, some of which are completely burning. Tear gas has filled the air.

During the three days of protests, a total of 152 people were arrested and 324 people are under interrogation. Injuries were reported among both protesters and police officers, with police saying 71 officers were injured in the clashes.

Students are angry about the conditions in universities, the cost of higher education and the poor job prospects after graduation. But above all, they want the government to step down and say they are not willing to negotiate with the prime minister on any of their other demands.

Samantha said, "You didn't listen to us for four months while we were peacefully protesting. Now you're listening when the city is burning."

In the first two days of the student protests, the Prime Minister remained silent.

Then at 8:03 a.m. on Thursday, Rama appeared in a recorded video message inside the fire-damaged building of the College of Europe, a few meters away from his office on Tirana's main street, Shahada Mellat Blvd.

"These are the hands of the opposition, which, hiding behind masked people, wants to return Albania to a place it will never return to," he said.

The next day, he also accused "foreign hands" of trying to prevent Albania from joining the EU.

The unrest comes at a critical moment for Albania's bid to join the European Union. Brussels calls for calm and restraint, asks all parties to refrain from further escalation and enter into dialogue.

Sally Barisha, the 82-year-old leader of the opposition Democratic Party and former prime minister, denied Rama's accusations that the opposition was behind the violence.

"We have no idea whether it's Greece, Iran, Serbia or somebody else," he said at a press conference, scoffing at Rama's claims of foreign interference. The Democratic Party fully supports this protest and will stand by it until the end. Resign and leave immediately!

Students against the political system

For Rigels Xhemollari of the Albanian civil society organization Qendresa Cëtitare (Civil Resistance), the student uprising is the culmination of months of peaceful protests.

Referring to a number of corruption investigations involving senior government officials, he told Deutsche Welle: "The main reason for the prime minister's failure to respond in four months is the demonstrations and mockery of the demonstrators. Other reasons include the economic situation, corruption cases and successive scandals.

But the anger is not directed at Rama alone. Protesters have also expressed their frustration with Albania's political opposition.

"We want the political class of the last 35 years gone. We want a new Albania with new leaders," Skardi Topali, a 20-year-old journalism student, told DW.

For Mark Marko, political analyst, head of the Faculty of History and Philology at the University of Tirana, the protests are a turning point.

"This is the reaction of a generation. In a society that was not responsive, they woke people up and made us think about change," he told DW.

But Marco warns that even Rama's resignation and new elections will not necessarily bring new political leadership.

He said: "Challenging the government is not a goal in itself. The protest must produce results." There must be a platform, a political alternative. You cannot vote on a protest.

At the same time, Jamulari sees Rama's resignation as the only way to end the rebellion.

"The demonstration has only one political demand and demands a political solution: the resignation of the prime minister," he told DW.

Khemulari says Albania's president should bring political parties together to form an interim government led by a non-partisan prime minister and pave the way for local and parliamentary elections in May 2027.