Prime Minister Edi Rama said student protests were being used to conceal acts of violence. He stressed that the problem was not students or citizens exercising their constitutional right to protest, but violent acts. Rama spoke during a meeting at the Ministry of Education with Minister Mirela Kumbaro and Tirana high school principals. He said protesters had targeted the ministry with stones to create the impression that the violence stemmed from demands for education.

Meanwhile, Rama acknowledged that some students were among those attacking police and intimidating the city. He said some held extremist political views. However, he insisted that neither students nor citizens exercising their right to protest were the problem. The prime minister said the right to protest was an undeniable constitutional freedom. He argued that the issue concerned violence, not the exercise of that right.

During his address, Rama displayed a stone he had brought with him. He said its weight could turn it into a weapon capable of causing tragedy when thrown at police officers. He described the stone as the object that marks where the right to protest ends and the state’s right to respond and protect its citizens begins.

/a.p./