Tomorrow, the Democrats’ new test. Everyone in the square against the neodictatorship “Unity for Democracy” calls on all honest Albanians who believe in freedom and its values, true nationalists who aspire to an Albania in freedom, and right-wingers wherever they may be in Albania, to join the citizens of Tirana on Friday, September 4, at 18:00 in Skënderbej Square for their protest against the red dictatorship which, after seizing power by force, does not stop applying its platform against the opposition. Patriots from all over Albania! Let us gather on Friday at 18:00 in Skënderbej Square to say no to political revenge, no to political killings and trials against the opposition! Let us all stand together in defense of our democratic ideal, in defense of the true values of democracy, for the peace of the nation! Together to defend freedom! Tomorrow will be too late!

Powerful protests in Fier, Peqin, Ballsh and Krujë. Today Elbasan and Pogradec take to the square. All Albania cries out: “Free the political prisoners! Away with the scum!” Two armored vehicles and 500 police officers attack the anti-Communist village. Homes are fired upon with every type of weapon. Seven police officers are wounded; at the hospital, they speak out against confrontation with the population. The situation remains tense. Further police attacks on the village were expected last night. ON PAGE 3

PD press conference: Police statements provoked bloodshed ON PAGE 3

Minarolli immediately after returning from Gjirokastra: Reprisals in Lazarat are expected at any moment ON PAGE 3

The Socialist leadership welcomes the opening of political prisons in Albania ON PAGE 3

By Bardhyl LONDO When the night before last Tirana was still filled with the indelible impressions of the solemn sounds of the opposition’s magnificent spectacle, I do not know how, amid all these agitations, full of and unforgettable for Albanian democratic culture, I remembered the brilliant line by the Nobel laureate Kavfis in one of his masterpieces, the poem “Ithaca”: “Now I know, I believe, who Ithaca is,” a line which in the minds of Albanians, and of many foreigners at that moment, would have been translated: “Now I know, I believe, who the terrorists are...” It was an almost inhuman persistence by the state bureaucratic machine, its propaganda, and a part of the press that claimed to be independent, to convince the people of Tirana and Albanians that there was a terrorist opposition, portraying Albania as having two faces: the government with the face of a lamb, the opposition with that of a wolf. But what did the spectacle of the night before last say? The conclusion is not difficult to draw: the opposition’s terrorism is an ordinary, deceptive propaganda tool (and, furthermore, all its actions could undoubtedly take first place in Europe; it is an occurrence involving corruption and smuggling), or the opposition’s brothers remain in prison without trials and the trials of August 29 are nothing other than a display of the terrorism exercised before and during those elections. In either case, the conclusion is one: inevitable and beyond punishment. Albanians, and Tirana in particular, can now reach this conclusion very easily. After Monday evening’s magnificent spectacle, Albanians can more easily reach another, more important conclusion as well: they have now understood the “independence” of part of the independent press, and even the “independence” of some correspondent working for foreign media. But what were the terrorist acts that took place at yesterday evening’s demonstration? The only terror was the propaganda-driven intimidation about what was going to happen. For 50 years, someone terrorized Albanians with a sense of paranoia, and, to be conscious of this, one must accept that this feeling was quite different in the East than in Albania, and that it even became a mass illness. Now, after Monday’s rally, the perverse team must apologize to the people of Tirana for the terror it inflicted through its propaganda machine. It must dismiss the Minister of the Interior, because the latter reduced to zero the importance and credibility of his statements, which were woven around terrorism, as well as the reality of Albanian victims. Or at least a sacrifice must be made at state TV and ATSH, and those responsible dismissed. Or, in the happiest and best-case scenario, TV and ATSH should be shut down altogether. But in the end, the importance of all this lies in its origins, because, with the exception of in a language...

Today, a major protest in Elbasan, Pogradec, etc. government violence On Thursday, 03.09.1998, at 18:00, “Bashkimi për Demokraci” is organizing a major rally in Elbasan, Pogradec, etc., to protest the opposition’s political imprisonments, the Nano government, government violence, terror, poverty, corruption and insecurity in the country. All citizens of Elbasan and Pogradec are invited to fearlessly join their voices in protest with all of Albania, to restore freedom and democracy to Elbasan, Pogradec and all of Albania.

PD of Gjirokastër calls a meeting of the parties Yesterday, the Gjirokastër branch of the Democratic Party issued a call to the city’s political forces, senior local government officials and law enforcement agencies to meet on Thursday at 11:00 at a roundtable to discuss recent developments in the Gjirokastër district, and particularly in the village of Lazarat. In its appeal, PD of Gjirokastër says, among other things, that it distances itself from every violent and terrorist act and declares that it has nothing in common with these phenomena. But, the appeal emphasizes, PD cannot stand by without supporting an entire people being attacked by the state, and it calls on state structures to distinguish the people who have been criminally implicated from innocent citizens.

Shamata: Nano sleeps the sleep of Macbeth Çela: The Prosecutor’s Office, a blind tool of the government Zhulali: Albania does not have weapons of mass destruction ON PAGE 4

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Topalli opposes Meidani’s initiative The Deputy Speaker of the Albanian Parliament, Ms. Jozefina Topalli, also opposed the President’s initiative to amnesty crimes against humanity. Topalli, a member of the leadership of the Democratic Party and a law lecturer at the University of Shkodër, said that “no one in the world, no matter how powerful a ruler or how close a friend, can pardon or amnesty those who commit mass killings.” ON PAGE 3

On Saturday, at 11:00, in Korçë’s central square, “Bashkimi për Demokraci” is organizing a protest rally for the release of political prisoners and the protection of the rights and freedoms violated by Nano and his clique in Albania.

Letters from prison. Prisoners of conscience write from Ward 313

Today, a major protest in Elbasan, Pogradec, etc.