Today, 11:30 a.m., protest against the neo-dictatorship The neo-dictatorship imposed by the governing coalition has descended into savage violence against the Democratic Party, its leaders, the Albanian opposition, and the students confined in a hunger strike. Political killings and imprisonments, mistreatment and violence against democrats have reached their peak. It is the duty of all Albanian democrats and, especially, the citizens of Tirana, to protest forcefully by all democratic means and say “Stop!” to the political terror of the criminal gangs of the governing coalition now in power. CITIZENS OF TIRANA! The Democratic Party and “Bashkimi për Demokraci” call on you: “Now or never”—let us protest to drive out the neo-dictatorship of Majko’s continuity government. Everyone to the square today, December 18, at 11:30 a.m., to protest in support of the students.

Bestial attack by the police, SHIK and RENEA forces on the hunger strike. Tirana floods in to support the students The young people, overcome by the prolonged hunger, are forcibly taken away, beaten and dumped on roads many kilometers from Tirana. The students return to the place where they are holding firm, determined to continue the strike. The pro-government press had foreshadowed the state violence against the students. ON PAGE 2

The opposition leader states his position on the accusations of organizing a “coup d’état” “Exercising my legal right not to communicate with the prosecution service regarding this political accusation, I hereby inform this body that my response to their summons for questioning will always be public, and I will always refuse to answer questions prepared in the offices of the Socialist Party.” ON PAGE 3

By Edi PALOKA Majko is not only the person who ordered the removal and mistreatment of the hunger-striking students, but also a common liar. In his statement about removing the students, he said that none of those staying in the hunger-strike premises and the Prime Minister’s Office was a terrorist. This is a blatant lie by the “young” Majko. According to sources present at the government meeting held on the evening before the students were removed, the decision to remove them was political, and the only thing sought was a pretext for that act. It is equally true that one of the options Majko put forward for removing the students from the strike was the possibility that an epidemic might spread in the strike premises. For this, Majko also asked the Minister of Health, Solis, to go together with Petro Koçi and be present when the students were removed. Solis was then supposed to make the pretext public. The fact is that the students were taken from the strike premises not only in police vans but also in ambulances, after which the police pretended to disinfect the hall. But Majko’s plan was thwarted by Solis’s refusal; Solis then did not go and carry out what Majko had asked him to do. For this, Majko also threatened that he would no longer allow him to attend Council of Ministers meetings. Thus, after this, Majko was forced to find another pretext for supposedly terrorist acts by the students. But the supposed acts against the students were so strange that, while Koçi came up with the epidemic pretext, only Majko announced the pretext of terrorist acts. This pretext is so absurd that only thick-headed or disturbed minds could come up with it. The fact is that terrorist acts were committed, but it was precisely Majko’s police and Petro Koçi’s police who committed them against the students. The students, boys and girls, are terrorized and have been mistreated. Yesterday many of them had marks of police violence on their bodies, and some even had broken teeth. The police violence has also affected others. Later, these students were taken away and, hungry, exhausted and stripped of their clothes, were dumped in villages and towns outside Tirana. Were all these actions really carried out to protect the students? If Majko were truly concerned, he would not have sent 15 police vans to keep watch over the students, but to protect them from “terrorist acts.” The truth is that the Socialist Party decided to remove the students because they were seriously unsettling the Majko government as well. Majko, as seriously, perhaps, when he saw that “young Majko,” a “young man” like his predecessor, was breaking him so badly that he was warning him of something worse. He tried to present it as one thing, but also, with the students, he asked for the help and cooperation of the Minister of Health, and was forced to make the Minister of Health do this work, after which he came out and lied without any shame about the way they were dispersed. This man became worried before everyone else that he might first, for the joy of this, have kept them safe for an hour earlier with the roots of the city. So all of this must be rooted in danger. Majko and Majko laugh and enjoy this very much.

Extraordinary meeting of the National Council of the Democratic Party The majority of Albanians are behind Berisha. The government must not dare touch the opposition leader. We consider illegal those institutions that have planned the killing, imprisonment and trampling of the Albanian opposition, and that have been involved in politically persecuting the Albanian opposition. Strong support for the students on hunger strike and for their just demands ON PAGE 4

The Blue Headquarters responds to the Norwegian prosecutor’s invitation to solve the murder of Azem Hajdari DP: We are ready to cooperate The problems in the investigation of the case must be sought in the compromised prosecution service and with the Prosecutor General. DP invites prosecutor Walter Wangberg to a meeting to be held at its headquarters ON PAGE 3

Today, 96 days after the murder of the December Leader Every day that passes after the murder of Azem Hajdari, the symbol of democracy and pluralism, proves the involvement of Fatos Nano’s government and that of his successor in the crime that shook the entire Albanian world. The government of the former communists, who are free and undisturbed, shows that they are on the side of the killers of the December Leader; they show that they are Albanians who have been and remain on the side of the murderers, who have names and identities but are untouched by those in power. Democrats and all Albanians who loved and honored Azem Hajdari can in no way tolerate this fact. The government must either capture the criminals and bring them to justice, or publicly declare that it itself carried out the murder of Azem Hajdari.

Mali me Gropa, Linzë, Fushë-Krujë, Kamëz and Sauk, the places where students are dumped from police vans 12 striking students disappear Majko’s men burn the national flag at the hunger strike site ON PAGE 2

... some police officers came, took out my IV, dragged me outside and started hitting me... ... the police opened the van door and threw us onto the road, slamming us to the ground. Some were naked, without shoes, some wearing slippers... ... the police burned the national flag. When we sang the national anthem, they nearly suffocated us ON PAGE 2

“Deceitful government, abolish the solidarity tax” Dibra teachers head toward an indefinite strike “We demand a 50% pay raise and a seniority increment of up to 35%” ON PAGE 7

Democratic businessmen once again under threat from the matias ON PAGE 5

Ruka: “You were compensated last year for inflation” ON PAGE 7

Yesterday, the people of Tirana in support of the students on hunger strike Photo: Alves FUSHA Yesterday, the people of Tirana in support of the students on hunger strike — Photo: Alves FUSHA