Last night, the Council of Ministers met urgently and signed off on the purchase of the Albanian brewery by anonymous individuals from an Italian company, behind whom government officials and SP MPs are hiding. . Who took the bribe: Meta, Muçi or MP Spartak Braho?!

An old saying about the origin of destructive fires goes: “Think about the fire while the tinder is still in your pocket.” In yesterday’s events in Tropojë, the Albanian political precedent of using “clandestine Kalashnikovs” by political sides against one another has returned once again. Tropojë, also known as the birthplace of former president Berisha, experienced for more than four hours a situation identical to that of “March ’97.” From various parts of the town, volleys from an arsenal of weapons—undoubtedly premeditated—rained down, ... terrorizing around 10,000 residents of the northern town. Meanwhile, after this crime—that is, the terror—the incident was turned into a duel of political polemics. One day after the anarchic, ominous gunfire, the leader of the majority, Nano, was due to arrive in the town, but the four-hour barrage of Kalashnikov fire changed his itinerary. Meanwhile, opposition leader Berisha went up to Kukës, a town in the same prefecture, where he held his rally without incident. The police, meanwhile, began searching for and, naturally, punishing those responsible for the anarchy in Tropojë. However, hasty statements—first from the blue headquarters and then the Ministry of Public Order’s refusal to budge on identifying where the gunfire came from—made it clear that once again politics had “lit the fire.” The sides, one through institutional means and the other through political accusations, found an opportunity to use the peripheral town, known for its volatile situation and old and new conflicts, for campaigning. While the governing side declared that the armed men belonged to the clans, the opposition side rushed to say that “these scenarios... aim to create tense situations in democratic areas....” The Tropojë incident has once again revived the precedent of turning the country into an electoral battleground. The statements quoted above make this fact abundantly clear, while the cost and burden of the consequences fall on those for whom both sides profess their devotion: the electorate. The saying about the “danger of keeping tinder in your pocket” deserves repeating in the latest episode of the electoral spectacle, when one considers that this country’s main political headquarters are regenerating precedents of armed conflict among their militants. And until the militant culprits are found, the logic of institutional life will demand accountability from those who “keep the tinder in their pocket.” In the case of the rekindling and use of the Tropojë “fire,” it is worth following the rhetoric: “Who lights the tinder?”

Special Forces are deployed and wanted individuals are named. Among them is the local PD chairman.

. At the checkpoint, he signaled for him to stop, but the man threw a grenade at him. A woman was also wounded. Page 17

An unprecedented spectacle at the Palace of Congresses page 4