The Prosecutor’s Office calls for his immunity to be lifted “ARMED UPRISING” Handcuffs are ready for Arbhor, Demi, Minarolli, Memia and Gjana too TIRANA - Yesterday, the Prosecutor’s Office called for the immunity of Sali Berisha and five other senior Democratic Party officials, accused of organizing the coup d’état, to be lifted. The request by the investigative body was announced yesterday at a late parliamentary session, and is expected to be referred shortly to the Mandates Committee for approval, and then to Parliament. Meanwhile, yesterday at midday, Prime Minister Nano, speaking at a government meeting, sharply attacked his political opponents, accusing them of organizing the coup d’état. The head of government pointed to Berisha as the organizer of the armed gangs that attacked and looted the institutions. The toll from two bloody days in Tirana had risen yesterday to 50 injured and four dead, while Minister Teta, for his part, promised services and a pay rise for police officers following the police’s suppression of the attempt to overthrow the government by force. Berisha, for his part, has not accepted the accusation of the orga[text cut off at the edge of the image].

ARIAN ÇANI When the socialists withdrew from the elections of 26 May ’96, they officially declared that they did so to prevent [text continues beyond the edge of the image]. Under these circumstances, the strategies of the two largest political camps in the country appear to differ radically from one another. The PS leadership said openly that they could not defend the institutions by causing casualties. In both cases, the socialists’ political moves are not only similar but acceptable to almost all Albanians. Even the PS oppositionists themselves would never have called for the opposite. But, strangely, in both cases, Berisha, his party and PD supporters neither knew nor managed to find a middle ground, even if it was not a golden one. On 26 May ’96, the Democrats were so emboldened after the PS withdrew from the elections that they won more than 90 per cent of the seats in Parliament. And, after the state withdrew for several hours, the demonstrators did not hesitate to openly attack state institutions: the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance, Parliament and State Radio and Television were occupied and looted by armed people. Let us imagine for a moment that the police or Guard forces had been ordered to remain and protect the institutions. The two armed sides would have produced nothing but suffering on both sides. And, so that blood might be spared, the state chose to withdraw. Meanwhile, the enraged people laid waste to the void left behind. another. While the socialists show that they know how to retreat at the right time, the Democrats show that they know how to be braver than they should. Yesterday, the excessive courage of PD militants can only be described as Berisha’s Fatal Carelessness. A carelessness that now forces the leader of this party to pay a heavy political price, and perhaps more. Because in just one day Albanians experienced the fear, anxiety and terror of the state being overthrown. Everyone saw the horrific images of looting, fires and the ransacking of government buildings. Albanians experienced at close quarters the assault on state RTSH for the first time in the history of this institution—by armed people. If the state’s withdrawal for several hours could provoke harsh criticism and even calls for resignation, Berisha’s FATAL CARELESSNESS is now too late to correct. Not only official Tirana but also the international community regarded the latest unrest as an attempted coup d’état. And at the end of this century, it would be an extremely difficult task to convince anyone who could attest to such an initiative. In this country, over these eight years, even the PS have lost and won; but Berisha’s latest move is likely to be his greatest victory in defeat.

Nano chooses

TIRANA - Yesterday, the Prosecutor’s Office called for the immunity of Sali Berisha and five other senior Democratic Party officials, accused of organizing the coup d’état, to be lifted.

Three days of battle. The blue uniforms will receive double their monthly salary On pages 1-7

Special units: from 30,000 to 50,000 lekë in bonuses for each day TIRANA - It took the recent events for the salaries of the blue uniforms to reach 20,000 lekë. To fight crime, a special government decision adopted yesterday provides for a 50–100 per cent increase in the monthly pay of those who will have to restore peace and normality. Meanwhile, Minister Teta, citing “the devotion shown by the police throughout the country in protecting state institutions,” ordered a bonus of 30,000–50,000 new lekë for all forces under the Ministry of Public Order. The experience of a year earlier, when the bonuses granted by the National Reconciliation Government increased the blue uniforms’ interest in restoring order, has been used this time to prevent the collapse of the state. On page 4

Escape in an armored car TIRANA - A few seconds after the armed attack on the Prime Minister’s Office, Nano, together with Fino and Islami, left in an armored car. The other members of the government hid at the “Rogner”. On page 7

This is how people at the DP headquarters were disarmed On page 3

Finance Minister Arben Malaj resigns On page 2

Ten hours of terror at the state television station On page 10

From the recent unrest in Tirana (Photo: Hektor Pustina)