TIRANA, Dec. 20 – Albanian former Prime Minister Sali Berisha and his supporters organized a protest rally Monday in front of the main government building, with Berisha promising it would be the first of many until the fall of the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama.
The protest was timed to coincide with the arrival of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Albania and the start of Open Balkan initiative meetings that aims to bring Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia closer through regional cooperation.
“This is a protest against the ghost project, of the trilateral alliance Belgrade-Tirana-Skopje, or of the Vucic trio and his vassals, Rama and [Zoran] Zaev,” Berisha said, adding it is “a project which aims at nothing but the establishment of Serbian hegemony in this region.”
Berisha said Albania would fall under Russian influence through Serbia, calling Belgrade “a threat to the peace and stability of the Balkans and Europe.”
Berisha said his Democrats would continue protests against Prime Minister Rama, focusing on the government’s “kleptocratic” affairs, including the recent arrest of a former minister for irregularities in issuing concessions on trash incinerators in three Albanian cities.
“The incinerator affair alone robbed Albanians of 430 million euros,” Berisha said.
Held at night, the protest was largely peaceful, with the exception of a few Serbian flags that were decorating the boulevard as part of the Open Balkan Initiative meeting being pulled down and burned.
Prime Minister Rama is an ardent supporter of the initiative, seeing it as a “strategic project for the interests of Albania and the entire Albanian people.”
However, the Open Balkans Initiative has been met with strong opposition from the Kosovo government, which has refused to join. Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro also view the initiative with skepticism, and have also refused to join. They want an all-inclusive, EU-led project instead.
Many Albanians are also skeptical of the initiative due to fear of Serbia using it for its own purposes against Kosovo and Albanians.
However, on social media, several staunch opponents of Open Balkans said they would not join Berisha’s protest, which they see as a political ploy serving his interests rather than genuine worry over Kosovo.
Berisha’s supporters came together at Democratic Party headquarters first to start a march on the government quarters, and as they gathered they occasionally erupted into calls against Lulzim Basha, Berisha’s rival for leadership of the party.
Berisha and his supporters, which polls indicate make up a large portion if not a majority of the party membership, are vying to officially take over the main opposition Democratic Party after Berisha was expelled by Basha from the parliamentary group due to Berisha’s designation by the United States as inadmissible due “to significant corruption.”
Berisha supporters held an assembly on Dec. 11 and a membership vote that sacked incumbent Democratic Party leader Basha and replaced him with a transitory ruling body until leadership elections can be held in the spring.
However, neither is officially recognized by Basha and his supporters or the Albanian courts, leaving the opposition divided and in limbo.
Read more: Analysis: Future uncertain for DP as parallel assemblies strive for control
