Tirana thunders: 12 hours under bombs. From today onward, armored patrols in Tirana

In 90 days of a state of emergency, Albania gained a president, thousands of wounded, hundreds of dead, anxiety, bombs... When Parliament decided three months ago to decree the imposition of the State of Emergency, the fire of revolts and popular protests was unarmed and, to some extent, confined to several specific areas of Albania. Although this solution was put forward in prefer-

In 90 days of a state of emergency, Albania gained a president, thousands of wounded, hundreds of dead, anxiety, bombs... When Parliament decided three months ago to decree the imposition of the State of Emergency, the January 2 revolt and popular protests were unarmed and, to some extent, confined to several specific areas of Albania. the imposition of the State of Emergency, the January 2 revolt and popular protests were of Albania. Although this military solution was preferred at the time over the political solution proposed by the opposition, the PD likes to sidestep this fact, claiming credit for the idea and even having no shame about trumpeting it at its election rallies. In any case, Albanians have now grown used to living with the idea of a besieged state of siege, forgetting the anxiety that there are places in the world where people go out, enjoy themselves, or even work late into the evening. Yet this is not the worst of it. Indeed, if someone tried to take stock of these 90 “extraordinary” days, it would be harder to count the bombs that exploded and their victims, the weapons seized and those terrorized by them, than the days themselves and their dates. Back then, 4–5 cities were in protest, whereas today the sensation is that you cannot find even one. At the beginning of March we heard chants and slogans, whereas today there are screams and explosions. Without the state of emergency, terror was not as commonplace as it is today. It is no exaggeration to say that this extraordinary state of mind of our parliamentarians gave us nothing but a president elected under extraordinary conditions, under the protection of bayonets, with more ordinary votes than those for any dictator. From then until today, the military solution chosen by the PD has overturned all normality in Albania. The ordinary became extraordinary and vice versa. Politicians are fewer than their bones, while bullets are cheaper than tomatoes. Perhaps this is also why the former are preferred over the latter. The police, more terrorized by the geography of the fires than by the flames themselves, sincerely apologize for their inability, while armed people no longer feel any shame about posing in front of cameras as they shake Tritan Shehu’s hand. Bombs exploding without warning, mass warnings about bombs that do not explode, bullets fired more often than words in debates, words that make more noise and kill more than bullets: this is the culmination of the solution offered during these 90 days of the state of emergency. Now many people have reason to doubt what each coming day may bring until June 29, given that every request to lift the state of emergency is accompanied by a serious and qualitative intensification of explosions, perhaps with the aim of ensuring it is never lifted. And rightly so, people are not asking what will happen on June 29, but what awaits us in the days that follow.

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The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, Pangallos, met yesterday with Prime Minister Fino Photo: A. Babani The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, Pangallos, met yesterday with Prime Minister Fino. Photo: A. Babani

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