MPs from the DP also sign With consideration Members of Parliament Gëzim Pashko Kosta Marko [?] Kujtim [?] Tomi [?] Pavli [?] The President’s reply to the MPs’ memorandum is awaited photo P. KABA

Tirana - Faculty of Civil Engineering Students boycott classes The results of talks with government members are awaited The boycott will continue for another three days page 2

Yesterday: National Governing Council of the PSDSH Teodor Laço dismissed from his posts - Resignations are demanded from Deputy Foreign Minister Arjan Starova and Secretary of the Council of Ministers, Vullnet Ademi page 2

Shkodër University closed for 15 days - Student protests in Tirana cause fear in Shkodër According to a spokesperson in the administration of “Luigj Gurakuqi” University in the Shkodër district, a mysterious telephone call came from Tirana late at night on 19 December, precisely when the student demonstration at the Faculties of Medicine and Civil Engineering began in Tirana; the call conveyed the order to close “Luigj Gurakuqi” University for a period of 15 days. For the students who had arrived on the morning of 20 December to begin classes as usual, the notice posted on the university’s main entrance door came as a surprise. They thus learned that the break had begun and would last until 4 January. Although unofficially, the start of the break is being attributed to the Christmas and New Year holidays, as well as to the lack of electricity, which has caused serious problems. But, as the university’s lecturers point out, it was fear of possible protests over the lack of water and electricity in the dormitories that led to such a decision being signed. This decision—or rather, this order from above—came as a result of the student demonstrations in Tirana, the power outages, and their decision to boycott classes. It seems that Shkodër University managed to forestall such a risk by closing its doors for two weeks.

In addition to the victims discovered three days earlier, Besnik Hoxha, 23, from the village of Golem, and Fatmir Iviziku, 25, from the village of Vrakë, the body of Agron Mandia, 36, from the Perash neighborhood of the city of Shkodër, was also found on Monday afternoon. His funeral took place on Tuesday. Deputy Prime Minister Dashamir Shehi and Interior Minister Agron Musaraj also came to the lakeshore on the last day. At Bajzë and elsewhere along the lake, divers continue searching for the other seven victims. Every day, relatives of those who drowned and have not yet been found also wait anxiously on the lakeshore for the bodies of their loved ones to be recovered. JETMIR SHPUZA

photo D. KABA

Special report - Tirana, Shkodër, Durrës page 4