People were asking me why there were protests in Albania. In my video, I said that some of the people I spoke with in Kosovo and the diaspora did not have a clear picture of the reasons. I read out a post I had written, organised around five concerns.
The concerns in my explanation
Corruption: I put accountability for public money first. Education: I spoke about affordability, university conditions and transparency. Daily life and prospects: I raised the difficulty of making a living and the departure of people from the country.
Protected land: I questioned the direction of changes affecting protected areas. Being heard: I spoke about the frustration of people who felt ignored and raised concerns about policing.
These were the five themes of my explanation. They should not be mistaken for a verified statement of every demonstrator’s motives or a common platform adopted by everyone protesting.
What the published background establishes
The European Commission’s Albania 2025 Report identifies weaknesses in education, including outdated infrastructure. It also says the 2024 amendments to protected-area legislation weakened nature protection. Those findings provide background to two concerns in the video; they do not verify every claim about the October 2026 protests.
Editorial note: This adaptation omits the video’s unverified monetary and emigration figures, individual criminal-case claims and claims about specific police incidents. The dated Commission report is background, not evidence of who organised the protests or why each person attended.
The question that prompted my recording remains concrete: before dismissing people’s concerns, do we understand what they are asking to change?
Original social post · 2026-10-21
