Sali Berisha used the Democratic Party parliamentary group meeting to bring recent civic protests back to the center of attention, this time with direct accusations that the protest known as the “flamingos” protest was placed under political control. In his version, the protest was not allowed to unfold freely, but was filtered down to the very words that were allowed to be heard on the microphone.
Berisha’s accusations at the PD meeting
Speaking at the start of the meeting, the PD leader declared that his party has unconditionally supported the civic protests of recent months. He then moved to accusations, claiming that the “flamingos” protest was “captured” by Edi Rama and Belinda Balluku.
Berisha said the microphone was given only to people who accepted a specific political slogan: “Rama to prison, Berisha to prison.” According to him, anyone who did not accept this formula was excluded from speaking publicly.
Claims of political filtering and direction of the protest
In his statement, Berisha raised suspicions that the civic protest was managed by people who controlled its message and the way it was presented. He claimed that citizens approaching to speak were given advance instructions on what they were supposed to say.
This is a serious political accusation, as it suggests that a protest presented as civic may have been used to produce directed messages. However, at this stage these are claims articulated by the opposition leader during a party meeting.
PD says it did not take charge of the protest
Berisha also declared that the Democratic Party had decided not to try to take over the protest and not to divide it. He mentioned that at the beginning there had been Democrats who approached with megaphones, but according to him this was withdrawn in order to preserve the civic character of the gathering.
Along the same lines, he presented the PD as a political force historically linked to protest, stressing that support for protesters has been continuous. This also served to justify the party’s stance toward the latest mobilizations in the country.
Accusations also of violence against protesters
In addition to claims of the protest’s political capture, Berisha also condemned what he called violence against peaceful protesters. He said unjustified force had been used against them and claimed that in many cases the courts have found the arrests to be unlawful.
These too remain political statements by the opposition, made in a tense climate of confrontation with the government and institutions. So far, the focus of his remarks was clear: to present a picture in which the civic protest, according to him, was not only struck against, but also steered by those in power.
Berisha’s statements shift the debate from the protest itself to the larger question that accompanies almost every public mobilization in the country: how civic does a protest remain when it is overshadowed by accusations of political direction, message filtering and control of speaking space?
For the moment, these are accusations articulated by the opposition, but they bring back into focus the deep mistrust that accompanies the relationship between citizens, parties and those in power in public protests in Albania.