In Lushnjë, Tritan Shehu is assaulted and taken hostage Berat entirely destroyed by flames. Equipment is looted from the buildings Battle in Lushnjë (Photo REUTERS)

Flames, stones, overturned cars, buildings blackened by smoke from fires, windows without glass and offices looted. In just a few years, at a time when it seemed these events would never happen again, they have happened once more. Albania, many of its cities, has been engulfed in flames caused by brutal violence and by the anger provoked by the lack of security about the future. Protesters and police, all of them just as troubled as everyone else, have been forced by a dangerous situation to confront each other viciously. Now it is clear to everyone. A crowd of thousands is demanding its money in the name of a sense of security that has also been fostered by many statements coming from Tirana. Now that the money is gone, their protest is understandable. But I witnessed a scene that may seem ordinary to some. A little girl, in tears, watched as her kindergarten was razed to the ground and a new apartment building was being erected in its place. “Why did they destroy my kindergarten?!” she asked. Although it was a heartbreaking scene, it was a familiar one, and we knew how to answer her question. How will we answer the tens of thousands of children who have watched buildings burn these days—buildings that did not even seem so ugly—in which they would have adapted [unclear] done some work. What message will we pass on to our descendants? The answer to this question may well prove complicated. Perhaps someone will find a solution and reply: “Those grown-ups have some old grudges that have been following them for a long time.” Politics with hands raised

IN THE DISTRICTS High tension in many cities Gramsh, Elbasan, Rrogozhinë and Fier are ticking time bombs On page 4 The “fire” zones KAVAJË PEQIN

...viciously confronting each other. By protest is understandable. But there are different kinds of protests. No town hall or other state building, let alone a cinema-theater, has the money that is now being demanded in desperation. So why destroy them? The violence has also injured many people; most have been police officers, forced to carry out orders they receive as members of the forces they belong to. But many others have been civilians. A negative signal that reached the newsrooms of all the newspapers yesterday was the intimidation of journalists, at a time when people have nothing but benefits to gain from their work. Violence again, and another question: Why? It seems that now we are making each other bleed. Violence is being used in defiance of all logic, and this time the protesters themselves are also protagonists. This time there have been victims among the police and, yesterday, among journalists too. Let us not forget that police officers are people like us. If in most cases they have not intervened, but have only tried calmly to defuse the anger, then why attack them? There is no justification for the beatings of journalists. We are just like everyone else; indeed, many of us have lost money in this pyramid-scheme game. But now we are exhausted and tired of paying for this storm. The state of mind of people cheated by companies, foundations and others is to some extent understandable, as is their fear of the state’s and political forces’ ferocious, coherent regime [wording unclear]. But surely the time has come for us Albanians to say: “Enough violence; we’ve had it up to here with it,” because there are other ways to protest or express our great grievances. We will pay for the ruined buildings A few days ago we asked: time.” Politics with hands raised in the face of the pyramid schemes The tragedy of the pyramid schemes can no longer be dealt with by one party, or by the Government alone. It was a mistake to intervene late in resolving this problem; it was understood too late that, at this point, merits and political competition must be set aside. The government made no early effort to seek the opposition’s views as well. The latter naturally has many experts who could have offered knowledge and experience, so necessary in such cases. This is not about a political solution, but a technical solution to the issue. It would have been appropriate for the Government Commissions not to be filled only with ministry specialists, who until yesterday had remained silent on this problem, but to include experts from other political forces too. Berisha was the first to take this step. According to reports, he had also invited the socialist leader Meidani, but the latter declined. But the parliamentary table was also missing representatives of PAD and PSD, who could have offered their solutions—perhaps better than through procedural arrangements and scheduled meetings, but apparently not in terms of ideas and solutions. Albania is in crisis, in an all-encompassing economic, political, social, psychological, and even moral trauma. It is one of those difficult periods that we were accustomed to reading about only in history books. Our predecessors did what they could in such situations. We cannot say whether we acted well or badly; what matters is that we Albanians, entering the second millennium, show that we can do better than those who came before us. At least that seems to be within our power...

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Commission’s balance sheet: “33 billion at the counters” Driza in court On page 11

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Berisha gathers the party and issues an appeal: “We only need time. All the money will be returned”