Do you agree with the ambassador? Are Albanians or other Balkaners wrongly blamed for things in the UK?
Posted by FantasticQuartet@reddit | AskBalkans | View on Reddit | 111 comments
Fast_Advantage_9790@reddit
Nobody in UK blames other Balkaners only Albanians.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a Montenegrin crossing by boat with Pakistanis like some 3rd world citizen.
DismalPsychology9469@reddit
Albania is still third world in many areas, not just mentality. The only city to see progress is the capital, Tirana. Even there, the progress is temporary. Housing is at an alltime crisis, roads are... dogsh*t at best, an earthquake, fire or flooding spells doom for your business or house. Having only the capital enjoy some "progress" while all the other cities are becoming abandoned ghost towns is textbook third world quality. Maybe apart from the summer cities like Durres, Vlora and Saranda which revitalize for those 3 months, back to quiet for the other 9.
lolzimcoolwow@reddit
It’s so simple:it’s fast money and nothing more than that ,the albanian white powder business alone is billions of euros every year
FirstIdChoiceWasPaul@reddit
This isn't a Romanian problem, an Albanian problem, a Bulgarian or a Polish problem. It ain't an Indian or Pakistani or Turkish problem. This is an UK problem, top to bottom.
When you have people who don't respect the Police, the law, the local customs etc. and all you do about it is bitch on TV and release pointless stats, you're shit at doing your job. I remember the dumbass in chief going on live TV and saying that Romanians were arrested a gazillion times. Turned out they picked up gypsies off the streets, processed and released them the same day. Over and over. Like it's sport fishing, not a form of protecting society from trash.
What message does this send to criminals? I mean, logically, why starve in some nameless village in bumfuck nowhere in Romania or Albania when you can simply walk into a store, pick up some lobster and leave and nothing happens?! Of course your country is a magnet for criminals. Police your shit and the garbage people will go away.
Crypzzz@reddit
Blame others for recognizing patterns and then act like professional victims.
Cool_Guy_Chazz@reddit
The Albanian mafia is the largest criminal organisation in the country now. And the UK does have a problems with Albanian illegal immigration.
Of course that doesn't mean that they should blame the whole Albanian community for this problems.
AlbanianCatholic@reddit
Correct, may the UK apprehend these criminals, hopefully without creating anti-Albanian sentiment that will harm all us Albanians regardless of innocence.
rydolf_shabe@reddit
Ishalla horrat nburg, me mir se me ardh me na u hap bythesh knej
rydolf_shabe@reddit
There always needs to be a scapegoat, but they are not that wrong about there being a pretty strong albanian criminal organization in the UK. Although I don't think that they are to be blamed for every issue that the UK is facing.
ApfelEnthusiast@reddit
They blamed Poles for a decade.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Balkan folks are the targeted now.
thestrikr@reddit
Then came Romania, and Bulgaria. Every gypsy committing theft or claiming benefits was 'Romanian' and gypsy was not mentioned once. They were saying UK would be taken over by the wave of Romanians and Bulgarians when they joined the EU... Romanians and Poles are now going back home because UK has shit living conditions, and the only good thing about is are higher salaries, which don't make up for rents and bills anymore.
madeleineann@reddit
Hundreds of thousands of Poles and Romanians in the UK. But they're going home.
hubbabubbameqershi@reddit
It's always someone else's fault for their problems, they never make mistakes.
Opposite_Corner8353@reddit
Says the Albanian, lol
hubbabubbameqershi@reddit
Why the Albanian shouldn't say that?
Opposite_Corner8353@reddit
Albanians have a bad rep in the UK because of Albanians, that aint our fault
hubbabubbameqershi@reddit
This is exactly what this thread is discussing, welcome to the discussion.
Opposite_Corner8353@reddit
Thanks Skanderbeg
thestrikr@reddit
They create their own problems so that the political parties can be split into different categories. Which is how they created the Brexit problem, by saying that once they're out, they can get rid of the unwanted immigrants.
TiredOperator420@reddit
India joins the chat.
Critical-Ad-8507@reddit
And now UK somehow is more fine importing people from 3rd world countries who form rape gangs!
Weird priorities.
Old_Passenger7@reddit
Not whole Balkan, just Albanians.
No one is blaming Greeks or Slovenians for anything.
TiredOperator420@reddit
Can confirm. We used to be second class people to them, now in corporate you can be equal.
Defiant-Dare1223@reddit
I personally think this is rather unfair. Poles were generally very popular and seen as unproblematic, quiet and hard working.
There was quite a loud minority who saw them as threatening their jobs. There was a lot in very short space of time since Tony Blair didn't align FMOP with every other European country but yeah - I don't think you were ever per se seen badly.
I do concede that Romanians get confused with Roma and get very bad press.
MrDDD11@reddit
They switched from blaming Poles to praising Poland for having less immigration. In 20 years they might start praising us.
Calivivaldi@reddit
21 arrests per 100 people it's kind of an insane stat though
aXeOptic@reddit
What about convictions?
Calivivaldi@reddit
Still Albania first
source: https://www.migrationcentral.co.uk/p/over-100000-foreign-national-convictions
randydescribingstuff@reddit
Bruh, the way Romanians aren’t even on that list yet every English person acts like I just robbed their grandma when I tell them I’m Romanian smh lol
Ujemegaz@reddit
These stats are debatable. Many Albanians have dclared themselves as Kosovans, for instance. But in plain numbers, detained Albanians are still many. Yet, we should see what kind of crimes they are being detained for.
Calivivaldi@reddit
I think the link I posted goes into detail but it's mostly drug related crimes and theft/robberies.
I remember reading the whole stats in details when they were posted last year and if I remember corectly all european countries had a low rate of sexual offenses like rape and grooming gangs and of murders
Nohomeoffice@reddit
The link you shared clearly says it’s only drug related crimes. Crime is crime, but the British media is clearly scapegoating Albanians. In other categories like robbery, theft Albania isn’t even in top 10. For violence , Albania is ranked 8th, but that violence is mostly drug related.
Ujemegaz@reddit
Crime is still crime, but many are detained for violating their stay several times.
Fabulous_Pea5021@reddit
Are they specifically targeting Albanians? Arrest doesn’t equal conviction.
Calivivaldi@reddit
https://www.migrationcentral.co.uk/p/over-100000-foreign-national-convictions
SiofraRiver@reddit
This sort of "statistic" means absolutely nothing, and you can't even source it.
Calivivaldi@reddit
https://www.migrationcentral.co.uk/p/uks-first-migrant-crime-report
You find the table at the bottom of the page. Source: Home Office
Substratas@reddit
It really is.
konkurrenterna@reddit
When it comes to the albanians and organized crime. I mean I wouldnt say it isnt an issue. Kind of like gipsys and their organized begging. Sure most are alright but its public knowledge at this point. Happens with many groups of people. Like the americans say 1 rotten apple spoils the bunch. Now if your iq is above 10 you would come to a conclusion that this is irrational thinking. You cant blame an entire ethnicity for something some of them did. But half the population of the planet doesnt meet that criteria so here we are.
Antique_Birthday6380@reddit
Of course I don’t justify Albanian criminals who have committed crimes there, at the end of the day, they are the worst of the worst. But the worst of the worst are also these tabloids and the English people who believe them, who instead of blaming politicians for their country being in stagnation, blame immigrants.
The Daily Mail started this 120 years ago with Jewish immigrants, then continued with Indians, then Pakistanis, then Italians, Irish, Poles, Romanians, and Bulgarians etc. Today it’s our turn, tomorrow it will be someone else’s maybe Turks or Georgians, who knows.
The English have always done this, them and another similar country here in the Balkans that for all their problems there is an scapegoat.
N0stalgiaNightz@reddit
How is it a scape goat when it's literally corroborated by the stats? Just cos these pasty English people were wrong in the past, doesn't mean they're wrong this time. Immigration has been great for the UK overall. It's attracted entrepreneur, international students, skilled workers. But there have also been waves which have not been so good .
Critical-Ad-8507@reddit
"who instead of blaming politicians for their country being in stagnation, blame immigrants."
The politicians are the ones letting immigrants in.
Distinct_Travel6386@reddit
Well we know from the past that there is big Albanian mafia in Kosovo which used to kidnap people in the 90s.
Today from the news we can learn that day are more in the smuggling business, smuggling drugs and people towards EU and Britain [1].
[1] https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/how-have-albanian-networks-come-to-dominate-cocaine-trafficking-to-europe/
shqipshqippp@reddit
a serb should be the last person to act morally superior about the mafia considering who Arkan is
Distinct_Travel6386@reddit
Arkan is not alive for like 25 years, and this statistics is from 2018-2025 [1].
[1] https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10590/
Distinct_Travel6386@reddit
people crossing La Manche on small boats
Plus_Ad5423@reddit
Just observing at how pathetic you are my guy Please carry on This is entertaining
PayAdministrative436@reddit
😂😂😂
Cry serbitxh. The only mafia is your state and people which kidnapped people on an industrial scale. They just found the bones of an 8 year old boy killed by serbian police. They took him to “the hospital”, well actually they buried him, now after 27 years they found him again.
The only mafia here is pussy lips and his gang of big-nosed stooges kicking your asses at the polls and on the streets all the time
Substratas@reddit
Distinct_Travel6386@reddit
You kidnapped even your people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpQkDhUJU7s
Kosovar_in_Canada@reddit
buddy, you find one video. Theres thousands of them in Kosov raped, killed and massacred.
BJs_Minis@reddit
UK ppl are just racist AF
Pablomeisterr@reddit
This is such an awful take. When were you last in the UK outside of London? It’s one of the most diverse, multicultural countries on the planet where people from different backgrounds work together and get on every day. Please educate yourself.
Defiant-Dare1223@reddit
Island mentality. We aren't the only ones. Japan etc
PersimmonTall8157@reddit
Nah, among the least racist ones of the Germanic countries.
ManVSReddit@reddit
Based on what?
Promethevz@reddit
Experience
ManVSReddit@reddit
you must have experienced it after 1999 when immigrants burned all the bridges with the community. It was one of the few countries that would house immigrants, give them weekly stipends, stipends for clothes, free english classes, free legal respresentation on their imigration cases, support to integrate, and a myriad of other services to ensure immigrants were fully assimilated.
While these support services still continue to this day (which should be sufficient inidcation that the state is the opposite of racist) you can probably understand the average person's caution if all the statistics point out that the immigrants are causing a huge increase in violent crimes, killings, rapes and failing to integrate. I am sure if immigrants were behaving in our countries the way immigrants are allowed to behave in England, we would chop their balls off. If anything it is way too tolerant and that has led to abuse.
Exotic_Cantaloupe_96@reddit
Who isnt, just ignorance everywhere.
Pablomeisterr@reddit
Albanians have been the top foreign nationals in UK prisons since 2019. Read into that what you will, but it’s a fact. FYI I like the Balkans a lot. Spent a lot of time in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania.
notnotnotnotgolifa@reddit
Immigrants are always used as a scapegoat for multiple issues
ThickArt6492@reddit
This might get me banned, but OK.
Albanian criminals are plentiful. So are other Balkan mafia/gangs. They exist. But the UK should keep their mouth shut and take care of the real culprits that are turning the UK into a third-world country.
baziranreditor@reddit
thestrikr@reddit
Yeah that's fucked up, because, while I'm sure not all, the Romanians prisoners are mostly made up of gypsies with Romanian passports.
Substratas@reddit
Every Romanian citizen is a Romanian.
thestrikr@reddit
No shit?
My point is that this is skewing perception of a people based on inaccurate information or lack of it.
People will see this graph and will enforce the perception that Romanians are thieves and criminals.
The truth is though, that the the largest percentage of Romanians doing crimes are actually gypsies. They are not Romanians.
It's like thinking of Mexicans when you say Americans, Africans when you think of Paris, Indians and Pakistani when you think of London.
"Brit man threw acid on a woman's face". You create an image in your head and tell the story to someone else as Brits being a nation of people that depend on acid attacks.
What you actually missed at the bottom of the article: photo of Pakistani bloke.
Substratas@reddit
Yeah, and ~95% of the Albanians trafficking drugs in the UK are from a region called Kukësi. But the fact still remains that they’re FROM ALBANIA.
U thought u ate with that. Idgaf what ethnicity the person writing the article is ~~unless they’re Serbian or Greek 😂~~ because I’m not racist.
thestrikr@reddit
You're not adding anything valuable with your comments and simply going in circles. And the pakistani bit has nothing to do with who wrote the article, but who the 'brit' is.
Distinct_Travel6386@reddit
What would they say if Serbs say that every Serbian citizen is a Serb.
ha-ha
Distinct_Travel6386@reddit
Every Serbian citizen is a Serbian. How that sounds?
FearlessCat7@reddit
Europeans and try not to be racist challenge gypsy edition. Romanian passports mean they’re Romanian bro
thestrikr@reddit
Nah, you're just displaying stupidity that I shouldn't even entertain.
Gypsies are and have always been very proud of having their own culture and tradition, and the fact that they can integrate in any country and not assimilate. They have the same mentality of the Somalian pirates, in which being a pirate is a job one is proud of. Getting a normal job is not the norm, and making money the easy way is the goal. There are however gypsies that want to assimilate and adhere to cultural normals though.
Which means, that just because they have been born in Romania for a few generations, and they own a Romanian passport because of naturalisation, it does not make them Romanian, because they do not follow the moral and ethical rules or laws put in place, the traditions, the culture.
So if you say Romanian by paper, sure. But they're not reflecting the Romanian people. Not to say that Romanian people cannot be scum or criminals.
It's like thinking of Mexicans when you say Americans, Africans when you think of Paris, Indians and Pakistani when you think of London.
technotronica@reddit
Well that explain it.
Antique_Birthday6380@reddit
Of course a Serb will post this.
Distinct_Travel6386@reddit
Is he guilty for telling the truth?
Antique_Birthday6380@reddit
We know very well what you are telling these for. Of course only Serbs are gonna be the pain in the ass everytime.
Distinct_Travel6386@reddit
Well you are so called independent country, so you should fix it your yourselves.
Of course if you can.
Antique_Birthday6380@reddit
I don’t really remember Albania having been an independent state since 2006. Wasn’t it Serbia?
But still, people who come from a country that still hides mass graves and throws the bodies of women and children into rivers should be the last to lecture others on morality.
baziranreditor@reddit
Shah albos don't like the true
baziranreditor@reddit
Ofcourse albanian has problem with data, also I thought Montenegrins aren't Serbians acoding to albanians :D
Any-Consideration470@reddit
You are a Serb, that lives in Montenegro. So yes, Montenegrin’s are not Serbs.
baziranreditor@reddit
No, I'm Montenegrin living in Serbia, and Montenegrins are Serbs just so you know ;)
Distinct_Travel6386@reddit
BamsesDunderHonung_@reddit
Balkan is lovely since all your criminals left for other countries
Ujemegaz@reddit
To be frank,, back then, like five or six years ago, our boys spread the word by themselves, because they needed workforce they could trust. Such bad reputation is on them. But now, i think both our governments fixed the situation and the hype is over. Whoever chose such lifestyle is either wealthy and investing in Albania, or wandering in prison yards. Now the fascist parties in Britain try to earn extra points by beating a dead horse.
Born_Name_6549@reddit
That's not how it works. Most of these people involved in crime are basically well paid slaves. It always starts with some young idiot who takes a simole job moving a boat from divjak to italy and gets €90.000 for it. But when you call them once, they never stoo calling you. So these smigglers are forced to do bigger jobs. They pay more, but it's not easy to keep that money when you're living in hotels from country to country so they blow it all on women and parties. Then they get caught, which is the happiest day of their lives because they will never get called again.
Ujemegaz@reddit
Yeah, probably you know more than me. The big picture is that our youngsters want to get rich fast, roll in style with big engine cars, and show off above their weight. In a way, the bad reputation that we have, is no surprise.
Born_Name_6549@reddit
It's a weird thing that snowballed. Technically, this is the smartest thing that they can do. They can get more money in a day than they'd normally be able to save their whole lives, and if they hide their money in swiss acoounts they'd be good after they get caught. But the people involved are the same type of people that don't make smart financial decisions, so they end up poor after.
NewTurnover5485@reddit
It's always someone else's problem: Poles, Romanians, Albanians.
Maybe start looking at yourselves and start voting and doing better.
Defiant-Dare1223@reddit
FPTP is just such a shit electoral system. Like who am I actually meant to vote for.
In 2019 I voted for Boris to stop Corbyn and felt like I needed a bath as I fully knew the man was a principle free populist slime ball.
Mind you even in PR we have no good parties.
corruptea@reddit
UK is Wild man territory now. It isnt worth going there
A few months ago for example, 2-3 Romanians were suspected of sexual assault on a girl in Ballymena. After looking for proof for a few weeks, the authorities found no evidence that anything happened but still the Romanian community there and other immigrants like Filipinos had their houses burned and were driven out of the place.
Defiant-Dare1223@reddit
Tbf to us, Northern Ireland is really different to rUK, or ROI for that matter.
They are extremely racist.
Competitive_Bus4311@reddit
Im albanian. But my folks really been causing some problems up there.
CataphractBunny@reddit
LOL, the UK has way bigger problems than immigrants from the Balkans. 😂
vaniot2@reddit
This happened for over two decades in Greece while I was growing up. It's better now. We are being racist to Jews and Persians and Arabs now so there's not much room.
AlbanianCatholic@reddit
One must not blame the entire people, the significant majority of Albanians in the UK are of course innocent, but let's be real here. A lot of criminals with an Albanian background have fled to the UK. They must be legally apprehended and receive appropriate punishment for their crimes and be rehabilitated in prison. I do not want the crimes of these people to create anti-Albanian sentiment in the countries they do these things in.
Substratas@reddit
No, I don’t fully agree with him.
I’ve met many Albanians (like many in this sub) who will tell u that Brits are totally using us as scapegoats (even if the British prisons are packed with Albanians) & then talk so much shit about the immigrants of color coming to Europe & being involved in the crime world more than the locals. It’s peak hypocrisy.
However, I also don’t consider selling / trafficking cocaine as horrible of a crime as many people think it is.
The_Thighbiter@reddit
I mean even before this, albanians had a certain reputation in London area
SE_prof@reddit
Wait. I thought the whole world is Albania. So it's natural to blame Albanians, no?
Barbak86@reddit
As long as they need drugs, someone will bring it. It just happens that our boys outcompeted the rest on providing the cocaine that the financial district needs.
jinawee@reddit
I thought Pakistani were mostly blamed.
Barbak86@reddit
They are blamed for rape, not for providing the necessary powder that fuels the financial district of London.
Krasniqi857@reddit
yesterday the poles were blamed for everything, now us Albanians. Its a shitty changing cycle
PayAdministrative436@reddit
Very easy to blame the poles back then, now it’s easy to blame the albanians.
But they will never blame the pakistanis who run literal rape gangs. Why? Too brown
This_Music682@reddit
The Moment a "Newspaper" starts Blaming other Citizens, i would be veeeeeeeeeery careful.
You cant imagine how much the Syrians where blamed in Germany when the War spread.
balkanragebaiter@reddit
No, it's all of Albania's fault. Apart from my mechanic who is Albanian and is very nice.
Ujemegaz@reddit
Do you lend your car for several days to the said mechanic, how does it work 🤔
alkorisno@reddit
West always blames poorer nations for their failure of capitalism. This is why nazism grows.
Jimani15@reddit
I mean he's the ambassador, its within the job description to help and protect the Albanians of the UK
No-Working7460@reddit
Who cares, UK is a shithole full of entitled incompetent people.
MoneyLaunderX@reddit
Criminals should be blamed for the issues they are causing. Crying doesn’t help the ones, who work hard, do well and follow the laws. This applies to everyone.