The terror-stricken earthquake weighs on the cities
Berisha calls the party together and makes an appeal: "I only want time, the money will all be returned"
The terror-stricken earthquake weighs on the cities
In Lushnjë, Tritan Shehu is beaten, hostage-like
Berat completely destroyed by flames. Buildings ransacked
Blind violence kills and does not heal...
It is bad, very bad, these are days of despair, when from the Vlora coast, where the first departures have begun, to the party editorial office in Tirana you hear the order: "From readiness toward the headquarters". That is the title of a statement just distributed, another appeal by the Democratic Party issued at a time when the state needs police and not militants.
In short, protest and civil disobedience, entering police stations or party buildings, harshness from the capital toward rebellion, injunctions for calm with refinement, while before everyone’s eyes an entire country is rolling toward ruin.
The Saturday news from Vlora, Saranda, Berat, Lushnja, and Skrapar are those of an Albania out of control, shaken from center to edge. The morning began in Lushnja, where in front of Tritan Shehu’s improvised prime minister’s office there were insults, punches, and a scene scarcely imaginable a few days earlier: the head of government surrounded and struck amid the crowd. Then, in Berat, flames, looting, attacks on institutions, a city left breathless.
The police in Berat speak of patrols being attacked, of buildings coming under assault, and of a situation that no longer obeys command. Angry crowds move through the streets, people who want answers for the money they lost and who no longer know whom to trust. In Lushnja as well, insecurity and anger intertwine with the fear of a larger explosion.
Built on top of a crisis that is not dying down, the government makes speeches, promises the return of savings, asks for time and discipline. But on the ground the voice of revolt is heard louder than the voice of orders. This weekend’s Albania looks more like a map of fires than a governed country.
The surprise of Lushnja
The police in Berat speak of patrols being attacked
The surprise of Lushnja (PHOTO: REUTERS)