25-Year-Old Independent Lawmaker Calls for Resignation Amid Mass Protests in Albania

Amid mass student protests in Albania against corruption, unemployment, and government policies, 25-year-old independent lawmaker Marjana Koceku, who was previously elected as a Socialist Party member, demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama. In Tirana, where buildings and banks were set on fire and police intervened with tear gas and water cannons, hundreds of people were detained and injured.

Last year, 25-year-old Marjana Koceku—brought into parliament by Prime Minister Edi Rama among the Socialist Party's young parliamentary candidates—joined the protests as an independent lawmaker, opposing the policies of the current political elite. Protesters who poured into the streets of the capital Tirana set government buildings and banks on fire and attacked the police with stones.

According to police data, 500 protesters were detained during the incidents, 330 of whom have been released. In the clashes, 120 police officers and 45 protesters were injured; it is estimated that the number of injured protesters is higher when including those not officially recorded. Security forces intervened against the protesters with tear gas and water cannons.

The backdrop of the protests includes corruption allegations as well as planned projects on the southern coast involving individuals such as Jared Kushner, son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump. While villagers stated that their lands were sold unlawfully, Koceku stated that she opposed the policies pursued against nature and the land.

Prime Minister Edi Rama, who has been in power since 2013 and was elected for a fourth term last year, stated in an interview with Reuters that governments will not change through violence and that he will not resign. The Rama administration had previously come to the agenda with construction contracts and corruption allegations allegedly signed by the deputy prime minister.