What started as a protest in the heart of Tirana then turned into a long march towards the outskirts of the capital, surprising not only the authorities, but also some of the participants themselves. The crowd first moved to the Tirana-Durrës highway and then took the direction of Rinas, in a move that lasted several hours and brought numerous traffic jams.
The route followed by the protesters has opened debate and raised doubts about how the decision to leave the city center was made. According to some of the citizens, there are doubts that unidentified persons, who allegedly posed as police officers, may have influenced the orientation of the crowd towards the airport.
There is a belief among the protesters that the diversion of the march was not spontaneous. According to them, the goal may have been to physically exhaust the participants through a long walk, gradually reducing the number of citizens in the protest and weakening its intensity.
After midnight, the crowd arrived near the Rinas overpass and continued the movement towards “Mother Teresa” airport. Police forces established security measures and created a cordon to prevent protesters from approaching the airport area, while constant calls were made to clear the road and avoid traffic jams.
The protestors’ march until the late hours of the night towards Rinas has also caused reactions on social networks, where mutual accusations have been made about the way the crowd was oriented. Gent Progni, part of the organizing group, stated that people were observed trying to break up the protest and instigate clashes with the police, adding that some of them were identified and filmed.
In another reaction, Progni also published a video showing a protester who, according to him, presented himself as a police officer and tried to provoke the situation.
On the other hand, a protester disputed these statements, claiming that the very direction of the crowd towards Rinas was influenced from within the organizing group. She has publicly accused Progni and cast doubts on the way the protest was organized from the start.
After standing for a few minutes in front of the police cordon, the protesters withdrew and started dispersing. Although the march was accompanied by tensions and traffic difficulties, the situation did not degenerate into clashes between citizens and the police, ending without serious incidents./ JOQ
