Analyst and political scientist Ermal Hasimja has commented on the continuation of the opposition protest and its impact on Albanian society, describing it as an important development, regardless of how it will continue in the future. Invited to the show "Kjo Javë" by journalist Nisida Tufa on News24Hasimja said that the fact that the protest has been going on for weeks with a significant number of participants is an achievement in itself.
According to him, the protest has already had its effect and has influenced the political developments in the country. He emphasized that some of the developments that have occurred in the country would not have been the same if there had been no protest. Hasimja also described the protest as a kind of “summer school of democracy”, especially for the younger generations, who according to him have a more apathetic approach to politics.
"I think that the fact that the protest continues is with respectable numbers, respectable numbers is a great achievement and I think that the protest has had an effect even before. If it weren't for the protest, we wouldn't have all these reflections, all these loyal presences, all these other things. In other words, these wouldn't exist. So it seems clear that it has achieved its goal. I think that in a way it has and has served as a kind of summer school of democracy. Yes, because it has especially influenced the younger generations who are a little more apathetic towards politics. Gen Z mainly as we call them.
That is, it has an effect and I think that every day that it continues it continues to amplify this effect as long as there are always respectable figures, but even if it stopped today, no one would take away the effect it has had. Then what will happen later with the protest seems relatively unimportant to me because I think that whether it continues or stops at this moment, the reasons that people have given are the same and at another moment it could explode again. In fact, we saw that there were two or three changes within the protest and it was suddenly revived these last two or three days so that could happen too. People have different preferences, they have different attitudes, different ideas regarding the issue of its organization. There is not a single organizational hand there. "There are several different groups that sometimes coexist and cooperate with each other, but anyway, basically I think that the effect has been achieved and above all the protests have shown that people are no longer willing to tolerate the government as it is," said Hasimja.
The political scientist added that even if the protest is stopped, its impact cannot be hidden, while the reasons that have brought citizens to the streets may bring the protests back at another time. According to Hasimja, the protest does not represent a single organizational group, but several groups and currents that coexist and at certain moments cooperate.
