Albanian Lawmakers Disrupt Parliament with Smoke Bombs

Albanian opposition lawmakers ran wild during a session on Thursday, setting off flares that filled the chamber with colored smoke and physically blocking the podium to demonstrate their solidarity with student protesters during a vote on a bank bill.

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The blue smoke is the official color of the opposition Democratic Party of Albania. The party has disrupted parliament with similar tactics in the past, including a brawl in December 2025 in which they lit flares and threw bottles at Speaker Niko Peleshi to protest against alleged corruption in the ruling Socialist Party, and a rampage in November 2023 against a government budget bill, in which they accidentally started a fire with their flares.

On Thursday, the Democratic Party of Albania broke out its smoke bombs again to demonstrate its support for anti-government protests led by students who want socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama to resign.

Party leader Sali Berisha took the microphone to complain about allegations of police brutality against the protesters, while other lawmakers flanked him holding photos of protesters who were injured by the police.

Berisha declared that Socialist Party lawmakers were the “criminals” who “deserve tear gas, rubber bullets, cracked skulls and broken bones, ​not the young people.” The microphone was cut off before he could finish his speech.

The nominal business of the legislative session was voting on a central bank bill, but Democratic Party lawmakers physically obstructed the podium to prevent the vote from proceeding.

The protest movement began as the “Flamingo Revolution” over the summer, named after birds whose breeding grounds were said to be threatened by a luxury resort project that involved President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and his private equity firm, Affinity Partners.

The resort, known as the Sazan Island Project, aimed to convert an abandoned Soviet-era military base into an “eco-resort community.”

Although the hundreds of existing military structures are dilapidated – and dangerous, thanks to land mines and unexploded munitions that must be cleared away at considerable expense – the protesters argued that building the hotel would disrupt the island’s ecosystem, harming the flamingoes and other wildlife.

The protesters also accused Rama’s government of corruption when it approved the project. Some were generally opposed to the Rama government’s goals of increasing tourism and developing Albanian real estate, and some had long been critical of Rama and his Socialist Party.

The original Flamingo Revolution protests swelled in size, and became more violent, as other groups joined the demonstrations with new grievances. Hundreds of people have been injured, including police officers as well as demonstrators, and damage has been inflicted on both government and private buildings. None of the opposition’s charges of excessive force by the police have been independently verified.

On Sunday, Rama introduced a package of measures to curb the violent protests, including heavy fines for participants — even if they are not personally observed committing acts of mayhem. The fine for participating in a protest that turns violent is about six times the average monthly salary in Albania.

Rama added some measures intended to mollify the student protesters, including bigger scholarships for low-income students and rent subsidies. The prime minister is currently serving his fourth term in office, having gained office in 2013 and won his third reelection bid with a landslide 52-34 percent win against the Democratic Party in May 2025, although there were some complaints of voting irregularities. He is the first Albanian prime minister to win four terms.

“This mishmash has no connection with the people and no authorization to speak on behalf of the people, because the people speak for themselves with their vote,” Rama said of the protests Wednesday.

“I am, and will remain, in my position until the last day with the ordinary people of Albania,” he declared.