Dramatic scenes at Rinas Airport: The first wretched ones arrive 72 refugees are expelled from the Teramo camp. Rubber batons used even against women. Only 53 arrive in Tirana Harsh measures by the two governments. Italy is covering up the refugees: What will happen to us? TIRANA - The Italians are forcibly expelling Albanian refugees. 72 people have been removed by force and rubber batons. 53 of them managed to reach Rinas on two military aircraft. After a long wait, they set off for Vlora and Fier on two buses. At four in the morning, Italian police attacked a camp near Teramo. After breaking down the outer door, they used force against the 72 people who had been on hunger strike since Sunday. The violence also affected women and children. Bad weather forced the Italian authorities to change the means of transport to Albania. The ferry that was due to depart from Ancona gave way to military aircraft. Each refugee was under the guard of two Italian police officers. On arriving at Rinas, they reacted angrily to their treatment, accusing both governments. There were also strong reactions from Albanian right-wing forces, while the Government is seeking to use only diplomatic language. Skënet a dëshm… in the camp at Cassano, Italy (Photo: REUTERS) Scenes of testimony at the Cassanos camp in Italy (Photo: REUTERS)

VIOLENCE AGAINST EMIGRANTS “ Azzurri,” why did you go on the attack? Albania, the people of the Albanians and the fivave, whose backs the enemy, as Byron put it, never saw, the people who endured 500 years of obscurantism also to keep untouched by the hordes of this world the churches and monuments famous throughout Italy, have today been badly trampled underfoot: its people are being extradited with clubs, worse than the ultrardionarë criminals in Albania, by precisely those Italians who speak so fluently of “brotherhood” and “friendship.” At Rinas Airport you could also find children mistreated by the Italian police, while Albanians were being escorted at a ratio of two police officers to one Albanian! What is happening, and who is to blame for such cruel treatment of an innocent people? Those who left this March left to save their lives: they left defeated, just as the Italian soldiers left in September—ready to answer with the other side of the coin. The other side of the coin is: we did not want to, but Italy did not want us... More or less, this is our fault. If Albanians want to leave, they leave because they have no bread, water, electricity or work. This is not Nano’s fault, nor Berisha’s. This is the product of the 50-year forgetting that Italy inflicted on Albania, leaving an entire people with the macabre expression in its lessons: …tian, if it does not break away, had been extradited in the ratio 2 policemen, 1 treating an innocent people so cruelly? Those who left this March fled to save their lives: they went wherever they could, just as Italian soldiers fled in September 1943 to save their lives, taking refuge in Albanian homes. The Nano government, which is not to blame for this horrific exodus, which also sowed the sea with corpses, is at fault for not reminding the Italians of history—not even the most recent history, this beginning of the breakaway, in which even its ambassador Foresti removed a brick! The Nano government is not barbaric, leading a herd of livestock. It is in keeping with it if its citizens are made to shiver, if they are fed like “turkeys,” on nothing but pasta, and if they are branded by certain thieving journalists as Italy’s evil. When reality is presented to you this way, then you, too, as a government, must be ... Gunfire, this is the fault of one ... If Albanians want to leave, they leave, because the border is not guarded with a row of cannons. The Italians know this well from their own experience. Then how is it that the Italian government does the sums according to its own wishes, forgetting both history and reality, and dares to raise its hand against women, children, old women and young people? If it seeks to show its people that it is a strong government by threatening the exiled emigrant, this is a crime twice over, because it is deception twice over! It is shameful for the writers of Dante D’Alighieri to behave this way! Although, when they themselves drove Dante away, what can you expect?

NEW INVESTIGATIONS TIRANA - The mafia, cloaked in the trappings of the state, engages in smuggling. “There are structures set up within state bodies, the police, the prosecution service and the administration, which are involved in the development of smuggling and ensure that it is not halted.” The strong statement was made yesterday to Gazeta by Arben Rakipi, Prosecutor of the Republic. At a time when the government has committed all its structures to fighting this scourge, the country’s chief prosecutor is accusing organized crime of a mafia type of having penetrated state institutions. This conviction is based on strong suspicions arising from all the best-known cases investigated by the district prosecutors’ offices. On page 3

Starting today, the major clean-up campaign begins A INITIATIVE OF NANO HIMSELF TIRANA - Starting today, the capital will begin to get things done. “Tirana must be clean for the Christmas and New Year holidays.” Prime Minister Fatos Nano, like a good housewife, has called for a general cleaning of the city, to remove rubbish and dirt. The major clean-up campaign must be completed by the 20th. Tirana’s main streets and squares will be cleaned, but it is unlikely that the rubbish and mud that each of us has in front of our apartment buildings will disappear. Even the Mayor, Albert Brojka, admits that this is impossible with the resources at his disposal. “Tirana can have only one tenth of its rubbish cleaned up by the 20th,” he said. In any case, the Government is well organized and will provide people and money to help extend this initiative through to the end of the holidays. Two days ago, Deputy Prime Minister Fino was tasked with closely monitoring this issue and assigning responsibilities. Fino summoned to the Prime Minister’s Office Gaqo Apostoli, Minister of Public Works and Transport, Mayor Brojka, and Makbule Çeço, the Prefect of Tirana. Brojka and Apostoli met again to discuss the specific tasks for cleaning Tirana. Kiosk owners and construction companies have been sent an order stating that if they do not carry out the clean-up by the 20th, severe measures will be taken against them, up to and including suspension of their activities. The places in urgent need of a “touch-up” are especially the kiosks along the Lana and the areas near newly built apartment blocks. To transport the waste, the Government has made two refuse trucks and six vehicles available until December 20. It is true that you cannot work miracles in two weeks, nor asphalt every pothole. With the money the Municipality has, it can asphalt only 1 km of the roughly 400 km of roads in Tirana. So far, there has been no announcement as to whether extending the campaign to the areas around apartment buildings will be compulsory. In any case, television stations and other media will begin an awareness campaign to encourage citizens to clean the city. The slogan has not yet been decided, but it is likely to be: “Citizens, clean up your rubbish!”

BERAT Police raid in Vakëf: Ten people detained On page 4

TIRANA Since January, over 200 murders, half unsolved On page 2

POLITICS Hajdari and others take the Police to court On page 2

Competition no. 18 of December 7 1 BRESCIA-EMPOLI 2 FIORENTINA-PARMA 3 LECCE-VICENZA 4 MILAN-BARI 5 PIACENZA-NAPOLI 6 ROMA-ATALANTA 7 UDINESE-BOLOGNA 8 CHIEVO-VERONA-VENEZIA 9 PADOVA-FOGGIA 10 PERUGIA-CAGLIARI 11 RAVENNA-TORINO 12 BIELLESE-VARESE 13 TRIESTE-TRAPANI Prepared by TOTO PAP PC Play with the experts to win On page 6

TIRANA - Lately, no one can say what the exact chemical composition of diesel is, but judging by the price, it seems to contain gold. A liter of diesel now costs 78–80 lekë, while anyone “unfortunate” enough to own a car that runs on petrol has to pay 120 lekë per liter. The first upward blow came on October 1, when fuel prices rose. Diesel, petrol and super petrol all became 10 lekë per liter more expensive, as compensation for the additional 8 lekë per liter they had to pay the state following the increase in VAT to 20 percent. But the recent increase (almost +20 lekë for diesel and +40 for petrol) has made motorists watch, with sinking hearts, not the speedometer needles but the fuel-gauge needles. On page 2

Students who have completed the full course of the Faculty of Law (day program) are to appear at the General Prosecutor’s Office in Tirana on Thursday, 11.12.1997, at 9:00 a.m. to be tested.

Skënet a dëshm… in the camp at Cassano, Italy (Photo: REUTERS)