Sali Berisha, former prime minister and one of the founders of the Democratic Party, revealed the goal behind the protests at the headquarters of Albania’s largest opposition party.

Berisha said that the main goal was to remove the party’s chairman Lulzim Basha as well as individuals with a criminal past.

“We went to free the headquarters from criminals and bandits”, Berisha said, in addition to “peacefully removing” Basha from office.

DP’s former leader accused PM Edi Rama of providing police equipment to individuals who barricaded themselves inside the party’s headquarters.

“They had all the tools at the disposal of the rapid intervention unit, including neuroparalysis guns, and gas and deafening bombs”, declared Berisha.

‘Revolution to free Democrats’

During the debate on Now with Erla Mehilli, Euronews Albania’s head of news Neritan Sajmini asked Berisha how did the DP end up fighting for a building.

“I have a question that I have also raised in the past. A revolution, or a peaceful movement, needs an idea. How is it possible that this movement over these values ended up in a battle for a building”, asked Sejamini.

He said that Albanians were “longing for hope”, but found themselves trapped in the same situation.

Former PM Berisha responded that the ideology behind this movement is to liberate people.

“This revolution has an essential ideology and I guarantee you that this is a real revolution. I can give you a lot of evidence for that. Those tens of thousands didn’t show up for Sali Berisha’s problems, nor for his passion. They came as they feel that their freedoms have been violated and you can’t imagine in what a catastrophic state they’ve ended up in the past 8 years”, Berisha said.

But for journalist Andi Tela the images coming from the protest were “disheartening”, adding that Berisha should not justify what took place at DP’s headquarters.

“We cannot come to terms on how it is possible that on January 8, when you called for a peaceful protest, and we were expecting a similar scenario to that of the student protests and the rally against the shipment of chemical weapons, we actually saw protesters smashing windows”, said Tela.

Berisha dismissed his argument claiming that the protest manifested the “establishment of a real opposition force”.

“The main drama is that Albanians have been without an opposition force for the past 8 years. Yesterday, served to prove that the so-called opposition was a facade of the government. Albanians should be glad that there’s an ongoing effort to save political pluralism”, said Berisha.

Sali Berisha declared that he is willing to be summoned by the Prosecution over the clashes that ensued at the protest organized by him.

“For the sake of my stance toward the law I would definitely accept to go and present my testimony”, added former PM Berisha.