“One blow, I walked about two meters and fell to the ground.” This is how Erjon Vishkulli describes the moment he was injured in his left eye during the protest in Tirana, in a testimony for TCh. The rubber bullet is still in his eye, while the 28-year-old faces pain and uncertainty about his vision.
Vishkulli says he was near the protest to meet some friends and that, shortly before he was injured, he had removed his oxygen mask. According to him, the police were about 30 meters away and there was no reaction before the attack.
"Just when I got hit, I walked about two meters and fell to the ground," he recounts, describing the seconds when everything changed.
After the injury, Erjoni says he was only partially conscious. He remembers that a friend helped him and transported him by car, and then he began to deal with the pain and fear of the consequences that the damage to his eyesight might have.
"I still have the rubber bullet in my eye. I don't know how high the risk is right now, but it's not easy, because I'm in a lot of pain," he says.
It has now been confirmed that he has been transported to a hospital in Rome, where he is expected to receive more specialized medical treatment. In the meantime, uncertainty about the condition of his eye remains the main concern.
At the end of the interview, despite the pain and what he is experiencing, Erjoni chooses to convey a short message: "Only victory."
Asked by the journalist what this expression means to him, he replies: "Albania is ours."
