In response yesterday to former Prime Minister Majko’s request for dialogue with the chairman of the DP, Meta said: Berisha should respect institutions and the laws and should not call for police stations to be burned Every police officer will receive 30 million old lekë if injured while protecting institutions, and has orders to shoot if rioters attack a police station Page 2

If in 1989 (or thereabouts) we had been free enough to talk about the opposition BY FRROK ÇUPI If in 1989 (or thereabouts) we had been free enough to talk about the political opposition, I am convinced that we would have been seized by a bitter optimism: “Ah, we need time to build the opposition, we need another ten years.” That is what we would have said ten years ago, despairing that ten years is a long time. But here we are, exactly ten years after the birth of the opposition and political pluralism in Albania. At the outset, we might have thought that we would need ten years not to build it, but to lose the opposition. In practice, Albania today has no political opposition. Late last night, a report came through the ATSH network and was circulated saying that the villagers of Kalosian in Kukës had shut off the water main, leaving all the citizens of Kukës without water. In everyone’s mind, this act comes to be seen as support for some people who attacked the police in Tropojë and Tirana. In the city of Gjirokastër, too, a group of people gathered and attacked the police, considering those who attacked the police “democratic heroes.” In Tirana’s square, crowds appear who neither listen nor keep quiet, but wait for the signal to smash windows and burn cars. There are police and anti-police on the streets. In their apartments, ordinary residents tell their children “not to go near the Square,” because you never know. What if there were an opposition? Then the opposition would have called for the modernization of the instruments of democracy. The opposition would have the comfort and privilege of developing a modern concept of demands on the government and optimistic visions for tomorrow. The opposition always has the advantage of being entitled to build a “garden of dreams.” The government, meanwhile, resembles a “problem” pushing a huge train of the day’s problems, while the opposition takes on the role of an elegant observer who says: “Hey, careful, the train car is damaging the flowers, it’s making noise; what about the citizens, the lights aren’t coming on, we’re short of water, etc.” And toward those who cut off the water from people waiting for it, the opposition would be more uncompromising than the government itself. (Continued on page 3)

Late last night, at 21:00, Prime Minister Meta convened all the senior heads of the State Informative Service, as well as the other public order information services

Late last night, at 21:00, Prime Minister Meta convened all the senior heads of the State Informative Service, as well as the other public order information services After the meeting with the prime minister, all the personnel of the State Informative Service and the Public Order structures began an operation throughout the Republic to find the exact addresses of everyone wanted by the police and take them to the cells in police stations, after which they will be handed over to the prosecution. It is reported that Meta’s firm order has led to the arrest of three highly wanted people in Tirana, one in Durrës, three in Vlorë, one in Shkodër, one in Korçë and two in Elbasan. It is also reported that the operation was kept highly secret, since all the agents deployed to arrest them were appointed a month ago and are unknown to the public; indeed, they are known only to the chief director of the SHISH (State Informative Service) in each prefecture. It is also reported that orders have been given to shoot them if they resist with weapons or try to leave the police cordon. More than 1,250 people are taking part in the operation, and last night they also received special instructions from their chiefs, which “Koha Jonë” was unable to learn in order to make them known to the Albanian public. A.B