Opinion
A Molotov cocktail has no cause, and a post is not an investigation
Two sides must answer for the most violent Saturday of the protests: those who called people into the square and those who judged the violence on social media before any prosecutor did.
By ANN Newsroom · Newsroom
October 24, 2026, 23:15 · Updated 18:40 · 2 min read
The 12th day of protests in Tirana will be remembered for Molotov cocktails thrown at police, for the flames on an officer's uniform near the Socialist Party (PS) headquarters, for the fires at ministry doors and for the paving stones ripped up by masked men. The Health Ministry counted 13 injured, among them three police officers and two journalists. This was not a peaceful protest, and no cause makes it one.
The Democratic Party (PD) declared the rally a national protest in support of the students. Whoever calls people into the square also bears responsibility for what happens there. Shortly after noon, police had warned that calls were circulating online for people to gather masked, with Molotov cocktails, metal balls and sticks. Yet at his evening news conference, Sali Berisha spoke about police violence and announced new protests without addressing the Molotov cocktails. PD did not respond to the footage of masked people at its headquarters either.
The government, for its part, chose social media over institutions. The prime minister called PD “the mother of violence” and put the word “students” in quotation marks; Taulant Balla posted footage and Telegram messages that, he says, prove a planned scenario, and referred the matter to SPAK, the Special Anti-Corruption Structure, in a post. If this evidence holds up, it belongs in a prosecutor's file, not on a party page. Until then, it remains an accusation.
Caught in the middle are the students, who took to the streets on Oct. 13 for better conditions at universities and lower study costs. When their demands become a backdrop for Molotov cocktails on one side and for labels on the other, they are the ones who lose. Deputy Prime Minister Albana Kociu demanded that instigators be held accountable; that applies to every instigator, under every flag.
Our proposal: PD should publicly pledge before every new rally that it will end the protest as soon as masked people appear, and place its own marshals in the crowd. PS and the government should hand the footage and the Telegram messages to prosecutors and stop issuing verdicts online. Prosecutors, in turn, should tell the public, within a set deadline, who made the Molotov cocktails and who handed them out.
