Parliamentary investigation into the “Populli” foundation. Silva lowers the rates The opposition accuses Berisha’s party of abusing companies’ funds pages 3, 7

Albanians are once again worrying Greece. A gang of thieves has brought an Athens neighborhood to its feet, and its residents have taken up arms against Albanians. The situation has deteriorated, and police intervention has for the moment prevented possible bloodshed. More than a hundred roadblocks have been set up in the Greek capital to check vehicles belonging to Albanians. The incident has made the front pages of newspapers, which are now defending the refugees who are under pressure from the population. An ordinary incident that has degenerated—that is what the hunt for the gang of four has now become. Something that is happening more and more often. The alarming reaction of Athenians to Albanian delinquency is the surest sign of the bad mood prevailing among the Greek public toward the presence of around 300,000 Albanian refugees currently working in Greece. Six years after they crossed the customs border en masse, their reputation has continued to decline, and not through any fault of most of them. Cases of rape—following the familiar pattern of blaming foreigners for everything that goes wrong. Although Greek prisons are full of convicted locals, the outcry over Albanian prisoners has grown ever louder. It should be said that the creation of such an image has been influenced in no small measure by cases of crimes, sometimes gruesome and shocking, that can be found among the Albanian community, but not only there. In addition, the climate toward Albanians has been influenced considerably by the state of relations between the two governments, as well as by the old “rust” caused by ethnic problems. The treatment of our compatriots has regularly changed as Tirana and Athens have drawn closer or moved further apart. The current episode fits badly into the atmosphere created by statements about the imminent legalization of refugees, which is to be carried out by decree of the Greek president. It shows that in the future it will be difficult to obtain a work permit in Greece. Those who want to work will have to vouch for those who do not work. Meanwhile, the fact that four thieves have enraged an Athens neighborhood cannot be a justifiable reason for the Greek government to hide the “shesherën” from the public. The Greek authorities can no longer continue the collective criminalization of Albanians if a very insignificant portion of them are thieves. Such a thing would freeze relations completely, which would please neither side. Especially now that people in Tirana are talking about an excellent moment, following the official Greek silence over the two elections of parliamentarians in Albania. S.M

The government gives in: It will meet with the students page 5

page 17 Italy legalizes 40,000 Albanian immigrants page 4 Memaliaj, poison from the taps page 11 The Pope defrocks two Albanian bishops page 19

The Mayor of Tirana, Albert Brojka, at triblim

Wednesday, 8 January 1997

The newspaper “Koha Jonë” has been delivered to the districts throughout this year, on the schedules set by the “KOHA” agency. For example, according to our information, some newspaper vendors have received the newspapers as scheduled, but have not put the paper on sale, instead displaying other newspapers that arrive with the “Albania Transport” agency 2–3 hours late. The agency warns them that if this practice is repeated, delivery of “Koha Jonë” and “Sporti Ekspres” to those newspaper vendors will be stopped immediately.