The protests in Albania began with the Kushner deal. People saw the government handing over prime land and national assets through a deal negotiated behind closed doors, pushed through without public consultation, and designed to benefit foreign investors and political insiders instead of Albanians. Students reacted first, calling it a sellout of the country. Workers joined them. Families joined them. Within weeks, the protests turned into a nationwide movement that lasted 130 days, growing larger and more organized as more people realized the deal wasn’t an isolated scandal but part of a long pattern of corruption, land seizures, and political immunity protecting the same ruling circle.
By the time the protests reached the 100‑day mark, the demand had shifted from stopping the deal to removing Prime Minister Edi Rama altogether. Protesters said he had lost legitimacy, that he was governing through backroom arrangements, and that he was using state institutions to shield himself and his allies. The crowds kept growing. Students marched daily. Workers blocked roads. Entire neighborhoods came out at night. The message was that Rama must step down.
The last nine days have been the most intense period of the entire movement. Instead of responding to the demands or opening dialogue, the government escalated. Reports spread that Rama offered €2500 bonuses to police officers willing to take frontline positions against protesters. Protesters saw it as the government paying its own security forces to push harder, hit harder, and stand between the public and the Prime Minister. It was a political signal that loyalty is rewarded, dissent is punished.
At the same time, Turkey supplied water cannon trucks — the same high‑pressure vehicles used in crackdowns across the region. They were deployed to knock down protesters. Videos circulated showing the cannons sweeping through crowds, pushing people into walls and scattering them across intersections. Protesters said Albania wasn’t just using its own police force anymore — it was relying on foreign equipment to suppress its own citizens.
Alongside the water cannons came reports of surveillance technology. Protesters described cameras capable of facial recognition, crowd‑monitoring systems, and mobile signal interception equipment being used around protest sites.
Despite all of this, the crowds have not shrunken. They’ve only grown exponentially. The last nine days have seen larger marches, louder chants, and more people openly calling for Rama to resign. Students who were there on day one are now joined by workers, pensioners, and families who say they’re tired of watching the country be carved up through deals that benefit outsiders and political elites. The Kushner deal lit the fuse, but the government’s response turned the protests into a direct confrontation between the public and the Prime Minister.
People say Rama is no longer governing — he’s defending himself. They say the police bonuses prove he’s willing to pay for loyalty instead of earning trust. They say the surveillance proves he’s more interested in monitoring dissent than addressing it. Rama is a leader who answers to investors and foreign partners before he answers to Albanians.
The protests have reached a point where the government’s tactics are inflaming it. The crowds are bigger. The anger is heightened. The demands are clearer. Rama must step down. The Kushner deal started it but the government’s response intensified it. And now Albania is in a standoff between a population refusing to back down and a Prime Minister refusing to face them.
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