Tirana's government quarter burned on Wednesday night as tens of thousands of Albanian students stormed the streets of the capital, torching the Education Ministry building and a Raiffeisen Bank branch next door in the most violent night yet of a protest wave that has rattled Prime Minister Edi Rama's government for months.

Police said demonstrators broke into the Education Ministry overnight and set a fire inside, and confirmed at least 16 more arrests tied to the unrest, according to Al Jazeera. Riot police answered with tear gas and water cannon as students tore out street fencing to barricade roads near the ministry. Reuters reported the crowds numbered in the tens of thousands and that sympathy protests spread to university towns in Elbasan and Shkodra.

"This is a revolution. We are tired of peaceful protests. We will not stop until Rama resigns," a student identified only as Lora told Reuters while throwing rocks at police lines. Organizers say the immediate grievances are rising tuition costs, crumbling university facilities, scarce financial aid and bleak job prospects for graduates — demands that echo weeks of similar school-blockade protests in France.

A movement that started on the coast

The unrest is the latest flare-up of what demonstrators call the "Flamingo Revolution," a citizen-led movement that began over the summer against a luxury resort planned for a protected stretch of Albania's southern coastline. The project is backed by Jared Kushner, son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, and has become tangled in legal disputes even as construction advocates pushed ahead. Balkan Insight reported that Besar Likmeta of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network said the movement had sustained "four months of daily rallies on the main streets of the capital" before this week's escalation, with grievances widening from the resort fight into broader anger over corruption and shrinking opportunity for young Albanians.

Rama, who won a fourth consecutive term in office in May 2025, has faced mounting accusations of graft among senior officials ever since. Protesters have increasingly demanded his resignation outright, rejecting Albania's opposition figures as an unappealing alternative.

Deputy Prime Minister Albana Kociu condemned the violence on Facebook, writing that protesting is a legitimate right but "cannot be used as an excuse for violence," and urged citizens to "distance yourself from violence and vandalism." Police issued a similar warning that anyone caught burning property or attacking officers would face prosecution.

"WE ARE TIRED OF PEACEFUL PROTESTS. WE WILL NOT STOP UNTIL RAMA RESIGNS."

No casualty figures have been released, and the government has not announced concessions or policy changes in response to student demands over tuition and university funding. With protests now spreading beyond the capital to Elbasan and Shkodra, and arrests continuing to mount, the confrontation between Rama's government and a generation of young Albanians shows no sign of cooling as the Flamingo Revolution enters its fifth month.