Attacks on small businesses are highlighting another cost of the protests: not for the власти being opposed, but for citizens who live from their daily work. Amid the lack of effective protection from the state and fears of damage, many owners are closing their businesses or trying to avoid destruction with improvised means.
Small businesses between protest and insecurity
On the ground, burned businesses, shattered windows and damaged facades are being reported. Meanwhile, some owners have pulled down their shutters, while others have posted public messages asking not to be harmed, while at the same time expressing support for the protest, but not for violence.
This picture also raises a question about the role of institutions: when owners feel compelled to guard their own shops or empty their shelves out of fear, the official version on order and security remains insufficient to convince the public.
Students support the protest, but oppose destruction
Even among the young people who support the protest itself, there are clear positions against attacks on businesses. One interviewed student said he supports the protest, but not violence, considering the smashing of a private business unacceptable.
This distinction between civic protest and violent acts is becoming increasingly important, especially when the damage falls on people who work and study, rather than on the political decision-makers who are the target of the discontent.
Arben Malaj: A triple cost for business
Economist Arben Malaj has expressed support for the protests, but has clearly opposed violations against private business. According to him, an attack on a business brings three costs: a decline in activity, direct damage to property and then a financial burden that is ultimately covered by taxes.
In this reading, damage to private property does not really hit the political class, but shifts the bill onto citizens and onto the weak economy of families that depend on a single activity to survive.
The message for the protest: no fire, no extra burden for citizens
According to Malaj, political goals can be pursued through peaceful pressure and democratic rotation, not by destroying institutions or adding costs to domestic business. He has called for a political culture that seeks change without going through violence.
After banks, kiosks and small shops have been mentioned among those most exposed to attacks. In many cases, when such a business is burned or robbed, the damage does not affect the authorities, but the savings, work and economic security of an Albanian family.
When protest shifts toward private property, the weight of public anger does not fall on the institutions being accused, but on the weakest link in the chain: small business. It is precisely there, where the absence of the state is seen most clearly, that the social and economic cost becomes even more tangible.