“Comment is free, but facts are sacred.” — C. P. Scott, 1921.
Every day outside the Prime Minister’s Office: Shqipëria Bëhet’s different kind of protest
Erblin Vukaj · Originally published: 12 December 2025
In this article
Since 8 December, a group of citizens and activists from the “Shqipëria Bëhet” movement, led by Adriatik Lapaj, has been holding a continuous protest outside the Prime Minister’s Office.
They oppose Prime Minister Edi Rama’s refusal to dismiss Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, who has been formally charged over abuses involving public tenders.
The movement considers this approach an example of the deterioration of governance. It therefore seeks to force the current government out, establish a technocratic government and take the country to early elections.
The daily vigil outside the Prime Minister’s Office
The activists and citizens have settled in the open, on the pavement beside the Prime Minister’s Office, and are continuing their protest despite the low temperatures.
The protest began on “8 December”, the day commemorating the December 1990 movement that marked the beginning of the end of Albania’s dictatorship. Edona Haklaj told Citizens.al that the decision to protest followed discussions and agreement within the movement that, as corruption cases in government escalated, a response was essential.
She was able to join the protest fully on its second day, but said conditions were difficult because police officers had stopped an attempt in the first days to put up camping tents for the women activists to use.
“The reasoning was absurd, claiming that we were obstructing road traffic when we are on the pavement,” Haklaj emphasised.
As the days passed, more activists and citizens joined. On Friday morning, the group included at least 10 protesters who had spent their fourth night outside.
To protect themselves from the cold, they had improvised a cardboard enclosure held up by chairs. Various citizens had brought them food, water and blankets, while three crates of mandarins stood beside the megaphone.
“The greatest difficulty is at night, after 2–3 a.m., when it gets very cold,” Haklaj said.
But according to Haklaj, the support arriving from citizens has encouraged them to keep going.
During the day, people stop to talk with Lapaj and other activists. Every evening, 17:00 marks the main gathering, when speeches and appeals are also broadcast “Live!” on social media.
Lapaj told Citizens.al that attendance at these afternoon gatherings was growing. He believes sustained resistance can create enough pressure for the Prime Minister to resign.
In this spirit, he describes the square as an open space for all citizens, without party logos, where each can voice their concerns in the face of “autocracy”, as he describes the current government.
The demand: A transitional government and free elections
For the protesters, the Prime Minister’s inaction over Deputy Prime Minister Balluku shows the normalisation of corruption at the highest levels of power. Lapaj argues that a government keeping an official under criminal investigation in office has lost its moral legitimacy. In his view, the case symbolises the wider crisis of accountability and transparency in government.
In response, the “Shqipëria Bëhet” movement proposes a one-year technocratic government made up of intellectuals from Albania and abroad, with a mandate to reform the electoral framework.
The ultimate aim, according to Lapaj, is to hold “the first genuinely free and fair elections after 34 years of pluralism”.
The gathering also includes unaffiliated citizens seeking political change.
“We claim we want to join Europe, but like this [with this level of corruption], no one will accept us,” one citizen said after meeting Lapaj to offer support.
He said he supported any protest, regardless of its size, expressing deep distrust of political promises and the need for the current government to meet European standards.
The “Shqipëria Bëhet” movement’s daily protest differs from all the protests the opposition camp has held so far.
It aims to become a broader civic movement against corruption and the lack of accountability. Its success, however, will depend on its ability to sustain participation, avoid excessive politicisation and exert real pressure on those in power.
At a politically polarised moment, this protest is testing the space citizens have to influence government decisions outside the mechanisms of traditional parties.