What citizens say and demand after the massacre in Berat P. 2–5

Last night in Tirana: Anti-crime campaign launched The capital’s police launched a determined anti-crime campaign late last night. Numerous police officers surrounded, at around 10 p.m., a venue near the Medreseja called “Astra”. Eyewitnesses who were not far from the venue told the newspaper “Koha Jonë” that the police put everyone who was inside into a van, together with a woman who worked there. Gunshots were also heard at the scene, which, according to witnesses, were the police’s response to signs of resistance from those detained. There is no official announcement about this lightning raid, but reliable sources told the newspaper last night … [illegible section] … started from … For this, [they] will be held responsible …

The government vows before the slain police officers: No mercy for criminals Massacre: the top ranks of the Ministry of Public Order will be overhauled PD: Minister Koci must resign The criminals’ parents: We don’t want them as our children; let the municipal service bury them ■ Villagers who witnessed the horror: “Enver, rise from your grave” Little hope

Faint hopes for the life of the wounded baby Jonada Dervishi, a baby who has just turned six months old and still does not know in what wretched place she has had the misfortune to be born, is at risk of becoming the youngest martyr in the state’s war against crime. “I have no hope left that she will live; the doctors have told me…” Belul Dervishi, more devastated than ever, more wounded in spirit and more outraged than ever, continues to keep vigil beside his child’s bed, the daughter he named “Angel”. He and his wife, Mirjeta, had been married for over five years, and when they had lost hope of having a child, “Angel”, Jonada, came into the world. But it was not to be… After her umbilical cord was cut, the doctors expressed pessimism about her chances of survival. She had also been hit by another bullet. Two bullets in such a tiny body. “I’ve heard that apparently I have to thank the state for sparing my child’s life”—I have never heard such things before; I will never be able to bring myself to say that. This child is my life; without her, nothing in my life has any meaning anymore,” says Beluli indignantly. Mirjeta, meanwhile, after experiencing a nightmare in her own home, when the bandits fought the police and used her baby as a shield, seems to have lost her peace of mind for good. She had started taking sedatives. A life that began with difficulty, with a child born after many years, and just when everything seemed to have fallen into place, the home of the unfortunate couple was chosen by a criminal gang as a fortress from which to fight the state police. “I wasn’t at home at the time; I had left in the morning to take care of some things of my own. When I came back in the evening, I learned everything that had happened in my house. I rushed to the hospital, where my precious daughter had been taken.” After that, his wife told him in every detail what had really happened in their home, where only a few hours earlier joy had reigned over the baby’s smile. “My wife told me she was in the baby’s room, feeding her, when three armed kidnappers came in. They were milling around, not knowing what to do. She immediately started screaming because she couldn’t understand what those deranged people with their guns raised wanted.” Beluli is outraged and grief-stricken, and alcohol seems to be his only comfort. “My daughter might have been saved, but the police were not careful enough.” He is convinced that what happened would not have ended this way for his family if the police had acted with greater restraint around his house. His wife told him that the criminals had said: “We have nothing to do with you; we need you as a shield against the police.” One of them had picked up the baby and walked around the house, moving from one window to another; the windows had been shattered into openings like those in a tower. While the criminals had taken up positions in Beluli’s house, the police had identified it and surrounded the entire village. More forces arrived from Tirana by helicopter. After that, nothing remained but the language of bullets. The police said they had called on the criminals several times to surrender, but they apparently had made up their minds to settle everything on the battlefield. One of them, the one holding the baby against his chest, was the best protected and came further forward, firing at the police. A real battle was fought against him: thousands of Kalashnikov bullets were fired, windowpanes were broken and doors were smashed to pieces. But Beluli does not know exactly what was happening to his wife and daughter at that moment. He only knows that one of the men was holding the baby against his chest, while his wife seems to have crouched in some corner to escape the bullets flying everywhere. The police said that one of the criminals had shot the baby himself, but her father, relying on his wife’s account, categorically rejects this version. “The police shot my daughter in order to kill the criminal who was holding her. If they had been more careful, I am convinced that today I wouldn’t be here, but playing with my child,” says Beluli through tears. He says he cannot have any more children, but even if he could have another, no one could ever replace his first daughter, Jonada, who is still fighting for her life.