Meta, two-hour debate in Gjoni’s office Rakipi refuses to sign the arrest warrant for Sali Berisha

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Cassette at the Prosecutor’s Office. Arrest warrant for Mulosmani and Dhalesi Berisha’s bodyguards are taken away Jozefina Topalli is also detained Nano “settles his scores” and threatens: This was the final warning Pp. 2,3,4

By Genci ÇOBANI 88 years ago, as Ismail Qemali headed for Vlora to raise the National Flag of the Albanians there, he was convinced that he was not merely challenging his advanced age by abandoning his repose on the threshold of concluding a vigorous and active life, one of the few but pleasant benefits it offers. In a sense, he was certain that for the first time in the modern history of this people, he was making a major and weighty wager, in which not only his name and great honor as a brilliant politician and diplomat were at stake, but the future of an entire people. It was a time when others, especially our neighbors, traditionally hostile and ill-disposed toward Albanians, were convinced—and at the same time tried to convince others—that the inhabitants of this country did not know how to build a state. The years that followed, the punishments and humiliations inflicted on the point of forcing the “Old Man of Vlora” to resign and die on the roads of Europe; his later elevation to the pedestal of the most honored people in the entire national history of the country he made into a state; the waves against which the Albanian state was battered, its tearing apart and reunifications, and many other things in turn, have made the memory of Ismail Qemali and those who came after him seem at times to have won the great wager they made (and continue to make to this day), and at other times to have lost it. This year’s 28 November, its endless bloodshed, the transformation of a festive atmosphere—classically understood as a time of joy and song, not only here but in all the countries of the world—into an atmosphere of mourning and [shtertrhetrimi]; the replacement of mutual greetings with mutual accusations; the very Flag being covered by the insults Albanians hurl at one another in Albanian—all have placed a huge question mark over their great wager. And could it be that we have really lost it?!...

Guards tripled, military personnel on Readiness No. 1 The Minister signs the order, curfew in Tirana Curfew in Tirana and armored vehicles around the headquarters of the Democratic Party. Police wearing masks and special forces closely monitoring every movement of Democratic Party leaders and other people entering and leaving the blue headquarters. This was more or less yesterday’s scene at the headquarters of the largest opposition party. In any case, the Police raided the Democratic Party headquarters, detaining and escorting away several people, against whom it has also filed criminal complaints. Page 2

Nervousness in the Government. Meta meets the ambassadors

The events of the last two days, which, unfortunately for Albanians, stained their national holiday with blood, have created a tense situation not only among ordinary people and within Albanian party politics, but also in the government cabinet and international bodies. This situation has been most pronounced in the chancelleries of the political and diplomatic missions accredited in the Albanian capital. Page 5

Tropojë Page 7

1,270 workers seek a meeting with Meta and Lleshi 12 thousand residents threatened by mass hunger Page 6

The Republican deputy chairman condemns violence of every kind The Government is far from meeting the conditions set for it by the EU for Albania’s association with Europe. The Republican deputy chairman, Mak[s?]im Begeja, summed up in this way the consequences that, according to him, the Tropojë incident brought for Albania’s history and future. Thus, for Begeja, the blood shed in Tropojë is a stain of shame on the Government and makes it culpable. Page 4