During the student and youth protests in Albania, the name of Kosovo\u2019s Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, was linked to the gatherings in Tirana through media reports and social media posts claiming that he had attended the protest or taken charge of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAlbin Kurti joins young people at the protest in Albania,\u201d read an Instagram post by \u201cApollon TV\u201d, a local television station in Fier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to an official\u00a0announcement<\/a>\u00a0by the Government of Kosovo, on 24 October Kurti received a delegation from FC Dardania Basel, a football club founded by the Albanian diaspora in Switzerland, in Pristina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u201cResilience Observatory\u201d \u2013 part of Amfora \u2013 verified that the image had been generated using Artificial Intelligence, placing Kurti in the middle of the purported protest, surrounded by young people, with the monument to the national hero Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg in the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To make it appear more credible, the poster featured the Klan Television logo and the captions \u201cLive \u2013 Tirana\u201d and \u201cBreaking News\u201d, alongside the text: \u201cKosovo\u2019s Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, was seen today in Skanderbeg Square in Tirana, where he joined a protest by young Albanians demanding greater justice, employment and a better future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The poster also included a fabricated quotation attributed to Kurti in the context of the Tirana protest, presenting him as saying: \u201cYoung people are our greatest strength; together we can change this country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the same day, Prime Minister Kurti also published an\u00a0address<\/a>\u00a0to residents of Pre\u0161evo, Bujanovac and Medve\u0111a concerning the elections and their participation in voting. The official announcements contradict claims that Kurti attended the Tirana protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Claims linking Kosovo\u2019s Prime Minister to the protests in Albania also appeared in other social media posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Claims about Albin Kurti\u2019s connection to the protests in Albania had begun circulating earlier. Ahead of the nationwide protest on 24 October, Kosovo\u2019s Prime Minister had been mentioned in publications attributing to him a role in leading the demonstrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 19 October, \u201cGazeta Tema\u201d published an article<\/a> headlined \u201cAlbin Kurti takes command of the protests in Albania, speaks on behalf of students\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The article referred to statements by the Speaker of Kosovo\u2019s Assembly, Albulena Haxhiu, who had called on the Albanian institutions to listen to the protesters\u2019 demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is very important that the protesters\u2019 demands are heard by the institutions,\u201d Haxhiu said on 19 October, calling on the Albanian institutions to address the students\u2019 demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also called for an end to violence by both protesters and the police. Asked about the possible involvement of Vet\u00ebvendosje supporters in the protests, Haxhiu denied that the party had organised participation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs regards participation, I must emphasise that Vet\u00ebvendosje has never issued a call to support the protests. That is not Vet\u00ebvendosje\u2019s role,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Haxhiu added that the party could not be held responsible if its supporters decided to attend the demonstrations individually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Contrary to the headline, which stated that Albin Kurti had taken charge of the protests in Albania and was speaking on behalf of the students, the article contained no statement from him or evidence supporting that claim. It referred only to statements by Albulena Haxhiu, who called on the Albanian institutions to listen to the protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These narratives had been preceded by an incident on 16 October. Vox News published a\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0on Instagram about two young men from Pristina being taken into police custody during the protest in Tirana. Citing Top Channel, the post attributed to one of the young men a statement that he was a supporter of Albin Kurti and wanted a government in Albania more closely aligned with Vet\u00ebvendosje\u2019s policies. The same description also included the young man\u2019s denial that he had committed any acts of violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n