TIRANA, Albania — For the 35th straight night, thousands of demonstrators gathered in Albania’s capital city on Saturday to escalate their demands for sweeping political change, calling for Prime Minister Edi Rama to step down immediately, his government to be replaced on an interim basis, constitutional amendments to be drafted, and systemic corruption to be rooted out from national institutions.
Unconfirmed media footage captured tens of thousands of protesters marching along Tirana’s central boulevard, making their way toward the city’s iconic Skanderbeg Square to rally. No independent observers have released an official count of the crowd size, as of press time.
What began as a localized movement opposing a luxury coastal resort development on protected natural land—linked through business connections to Jared Kushner, former U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor—has over five weeks grown into a broad, sustained anti-government and anti-corruption uprising that has captured national attention. Throughout Saturday’s march, demonstrators chanted slogans including “New Albania” and “Edi Rama, resign.”
The demonstration was layered with deliberate political symbolism tied to Albania’s modern history. Protesters erected a large bust of Prime Minister Rama before pulling it to the ground with a thick rope, an act deliberately echoing the 1991 toppling of Enver Hoxha’s statue that marked the end of decades of communist rule in the country, an event Albanians commemorate every February 20. The protest fell on Rama’s 62nd birthday, prompting demonstrators to carry mock cement birthday cakes, a biting reference to the large-scale construction projects that have defined Rama’s tenure and sparked widespread criticism of environmental destruction and corrupt land dealings. The crowd also sang an ironic rendition of “Happy Birthday” directed at the prime minister.
Many marchers carried bright pink flamingo balloons, a nod to the local flamingo population that conservationists warn faces displacement and extinction due to the approved coastal resort construction. The ongoing movement has since been widely nicknamed the “Pink Flamingo Revolution” by participants and observers alike.
After two hours of peaceful rallying in the square, a large contingent of protesters marched to a nearby local police station, demanding the immediate release of activists arrested during a previous demonstration held near the Albanian parliament on Thursday. Tensions escalated at the station when protesters smashed glass windows on the building, prompting police to deploy a water cannon to clear and disperse the gathered crowd.