The Democratic Party has called a protest today to oppose the Government’s decision to close the TikTok platform, with claims that it incites violence and aggression among minors.
The protest is expected to be held at 7:00 PM on the “Deshmorët e Kombit” boulevard in front of the Prime Minister’s Office building, where the protest will be based mainly on young people from the Democratic Party Youth Forum.
The permit requested from the Tirana Police by the organizers of the rally is two hours, starting from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM.
From the start of the protest until its end, the Traffic Police will block all roads connected to the “Deshmorët e Kombit” boulevard, and there will be diversions on some of them.
There will be about 1,200 officers on the ground. RENEA forces will also be on standby, if their intervention is needed.
Meanwhile, the Republic Guard will take over the security of institutions of special importance. As in every protest, all officers will be equipped with gas masks. High-resolution cameras will be installed along the boulevard to identify violent protesters.
The opposition has considered Edi Rama’s decision to close TikTok as an act of censorship that is taken only 2 months before the parliamentary elections and according to the Democrats, the majority’s goal is to censor political opponents for the elections.
Yesterday, at a press conference, Sali Berisha considered the closure of TikTok as a serious blow to free speech and thought, while also calling on young people to go to the protest.
“My call on this holiday for all high school students, for all students, for all 9-year school students, for all young people, but also parents, to join tomorrow in the great anti-censorship protest. A tyrant equal to the Habitullah of Kabul, equal to the Ayatollah of Tehran, an intolerant of free speech and free thought, violating the Constitution, violating the law and universal conventions of human rights, put the scissors to TikTok, thus signing the most serious act of censorship since the communist dictatorship, which surrounded the country with noisemakers against radios and televisions of other countries. A very serious blow to free speech, free thought, the right to communication. An act very similar to the signature that Kristaq Rama, the biological father of Edi Rama, decided on August 10, 1988 to hang the dissident poet Havzi Nela. Tomorrow (today) is a day where we all protest for free speech. To protest against censorship. To protest against a corrupt government that seeks to control the information that citizens receive. In my decades in the dictatorship, the thing I hated the most was censorship, the reserve funds of libraries, which could only be used with special authorizations, otherwise you couldn’t touch them with your hands. But Edi Rama went beyond this and censors TikTok, the currently most modern means of communication. Based entirely on his intolerance towards criticisms made on this means.” – said Berisha.
The democratic leader also confirmed his presence at the protest.
“I will be part. I am not the maestro of TikTok, it is the young people. They are the inspiration, I will be there to support them, but they have the floor, they will say that they are anti-censorship. The protest is at the Prime Minister’s Office, in front of the building of the tyrant, the tyrant of Tirana,” said Berisha.
