TIRANA, Nov 4 /ATA/ Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha today held a meeting with the heads and secretaries of the party’s local branches.
In his remarks, Berisha addressed the so-called “flamingo” protest, claiming that a “Macbethian” group sought to weaken the opposition and create a political alternative serving Prime Minister Edi Rama.
He said the protest’s original purpose had been derailed through the slogan “Rama in prison, Berisha in prison”, with the aim of replacing the genuine opposition with a political force that would serve the government’s interests.
“With this slogan, these traitors, acting on behalf of Edi Rama and others, believed they could carry out the Serbian scenario of replacing the genuine opposition – a political force that had stood firm through the most challenging circumstances and endured an unprecedented ordeal in European history. They wanted to sideline a political force committed to defending the principles of free people,” Berisha said.
“They sought to consign it to oblivion and turn a protest unprecedented in Albania, both in its scale and nature, into a destructive movement. Those who ‘strangled the flamingo’, he said, deserved to be labelled, in social and psychological terms, as the most barbaric killers,” Berisha said.
He added that the Democratic Party had decided to actively join the protest, regardless of the slogans chanted by some participants.
Berisha also revisited the history of the Democratic Party, recalling the events of 1997.
Berisha said the Democratic Party had overcome major political challenges, including the 1997 crisis, and emerged stronger despite what he described as unjust international isolation, becoming one of the most respected and resilient opposition forces internationally.
“What were we doing there? We were seeking nothing more than to stand not merely as the opposition to the government, but as the opposition representing Albanian citizens. Today, we are among the most respected opposition forces in the world – stronger and more resilient than ever,” he said.
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