Agron Gjekmarkaj, MP of the Democratic Party (DP), has confessed the difficult moments of the protest held on Saturday in front of the blue headquarters by former Prime Minister Sali Berisha and his supporters. 

Gjekmarkaj says that yesterday was tragic for the Democratic Party and perhaps the most tragic in its history because according to him, they saw scenes never wanted to see, anxiety that never wanted to try, and pain that never wanted to feel. In the long statement, the MP shows the hours of tension in the blue headquarters, while he and many MPs were inside, surrounded by stones, graves and explosives. 

The full reaction of Gjekmarkaj

If we do not want to carry the curse of the Democrats on our backs! 

Yesterday was a tragic day for the Democratic Party perhaps the most tragic in its history! Of those that are not forgotten by marking its political but also social memory. We saw scenes that we never wanted to see, anxiety that we never wanted to try, pain that we would not want to have! 

Each of us has a deep pain in the soul. The headquarters of the Democratic Party today looks like a heap. Police cordoned off the building as a crime scene. Yesterday, the rhetoric of four months was finalized in an act of violence. 

I was informed that on Saturday at 10 o'clock we had a meeting at the headquarters! Of course, at this age, I am not allowed naivety! I knew I was not going to the meeting, and all the men and women who accepted the invitation knew the same thing. Yet we were numerous leaders at all levels of this Party who accepted the challenge.

We did not go there for war or to fight hand to hand. I did not go for Lulzim Basha either. My presence and the presence of others inside as an opportunity for that outside to call to reason, to understand that it is not the force that should solve the divisions of politics, that violence is not the alternative of laws. But not my hope and that of many was not justified. The first groups of speakers who appeared in the yard of the Democratic Party started with blows, insults and threats against their friend and colleague Roland Bejko who was being punished for his thoughts. Then came the stones, the explosives, the stairs, the curses that surrounded us in front, behind, sideways and everywhere. 

Many of my constituents texted me. Some were very worried about us being inside, others were urging me to stay, some were holding me accountable for supporting Lulzim Bashe's legitimate line while my almost 10-year-old daughter was wandering from the scary scenes she saw on TV and asking me to come back in the home! She did not understand that I could not come out because I was surrounded by a group led by Sali Berisha, whom for years I had defended in TV debates and we had voted for 31 years. In the moments of the most critical rhetoric, I did not lack respect for some qualities and achievements of Sali Berisha over the years and during this time. Yesterday he was left with only the caricature of the personality and the grave of violence. 

The thought that went through my head was why our children should grow up with such cyclical views, with violent language, with hatred at the breast and the prospect of lynching their parents on the horizon. From behind the doors came rage, threatening language. On the screen, we saw Sali Berisha making signals. There are not a few who say our doors are closed, you armored them !! Yesterday showed that in the DP some doors were armored. I personally saw them for the first time. I had not entered the headquarters for weeks since the day before the meeting of the National Council where I did not participate as a symbolic sign of how that meeting took place, the lack of competition and other aspects of sectarianism for which I can no longer accuse Sali Berisha, although we promised them in the Assembly on December 18th. 
But everywhere on the horizon from mid-September onwards was the language of exclusion, lynching and violence which did not recognize the legitimacy of the DP Chairman, its elected bodies, and the importance of partnering with the US, add to the ethics of the issue, the metamorphosis of everything after September 9th. 

This is a big challenge to submit to or to resist ?! I have chosen the line of resistance with public protagonism and I have suggested it to Basha, aware of his personal costs regarding voters, democrats and friends, and especially with his emotional state. In this context, the installation of iron gates, for which I have not been asked for an opinion, in relation to the legality and violence that threatened it, is justified. I have always believed and still believe that between legality and violence, legality must be chosen! You have to stand up to threats. But now the crisis has taken on another dimension and it can no longer be resolved by technical means. January 8 should never be repeated. Rhetoric and behavior so far are no longer enough, a new, experimental solution is required. 

Lulzim Basha has won the battle with the formality and violence of Sali Berisha with whom he should no longer seek any compromise or with two or three aggressive tools near him, he achieved this with institutional resistance but also with the support of Democrats. Now we must not spare anything to unite the democrats all those who love it, to heal their wounds, to make them feel proud and victorious. The DP must come out of the civil war. DP needs to be rebuilt. The crime was seen yesterday. We are still ashamed today. The pain will stay with us longer. 

It takes strength, courage and love for people more than personal selfishness to get out of this vicious circle. Lulzim Basha has led the DP in alliance with the west in recent months by making a very difficult decision, paying very high personal costs but today he's more than anyone burdens to find solutions not speeches and repeat solutions that offer opportunities for him all, to return to run for chairman and everything else, to contribute, overcoming any judgment and prejudice. It should not think of itself but others, the time and perspective of the DP within it. We must definitely if we do not want to carry the curse of the Democrats on our backs and leave Albania without the Opposition!