Tomorrow: a large Opposition rally Tomorrow, 28.02.1998, at 12:00 in “Skënderbej” Square, the Union for Democracy, the anticommunist association of former political persecuted persons, the Youth Forum, the Democratic League of Women, and the Independent Miners’ Union are organizing a peaceful protest rally: Against the terror and political imprisonments being carried out against the opposition. Against the deception and extreme falsification being perpetrated by the coalition government. Against the government’s failure to index the salaries of all public-sector employees and pensioners. Against the censorship and massive deception the government is inflicting on the Albanian people through telefurti. CITIZENS OF TIRANA Everyone to “Skënderbej” Square in defense of democracy and against the restoration of neocommunism. UNION FOR DEMOCRACY

Thousands of police officers held up at Prison 313 ON PAGE 4

The Democrats of Lushnjë Defeat Provocations and Police Terror Mass rallies of the Union for Democracy in Fier, Durrës, Kavajë, Elbasan, Lushnjë and Laç. Thousands of protesters against the government of deception, smuggling and crime

The political situation and public order in Albania are rapidly deteriorating, while Nano’s cabinet has declared police terror against the opposition to be the sole objective of its government. At a time when the entire repressive apparatus of Nano’s administration has its hands full with the leaders and activists of the Democratic Party, crime is returning to Albania with the menace of years past. In no small number of cases it has been directly encouraged by those in power, while, at best, street thugs have taken advantage of the fact that they are not considered dangerous by the police and SHIK-un e sigurimsave, since the enemies are being sought among the opposition. While the deputies of the governing coalition were reading their banal essays calling for the imprisonment of the December leader, Azem Hajdari, a revolt had broken out in Tirana prison, where prisoners were trying to escape their sentences by breaking through the bars. Just a few hours earlier, life had been paralyzed in Berat by a massacre in which six people lost their lives, all shot dead by a gang close to an “honorable” member of the Albanian parliament (Maksim Hasani). And when the majority’s deputies left parliament late last night with smug faces, having “done in” Hajdari, many of them were still smiling, as Tirana faced the threat of the prison door being broken open and criminals pouring out into the night. Just a few hours earlier, Azem Hajdari had humiliated the committee’s deputies, stressing that they were seeking to punish the opposition while criminals such as Zani Çaushi, Altin Dardha and others were either not being pursued at all or were going unpunished. The police forces were gripped by panic, and the whole night of Wednesday was needed to bring the prisoners’ revolt to a “happy end,” while half of the Prison 313 building has been destroyed; one can only pity the morale of those who will have to deal with the prisoners again tomorrow. This whole debacle did not arise only from the lack of special forces, who had been on a mission for several days “to bring Shkodër under control,” but more so from the encouragement of criminals, who are gravitating toward gangsters, their old and new allies, or, at best, toward people who are not paying attention to them but to Sali Berisha, Azem Hajdari, Genc Pollo or Ridvan Bode. According to what few forces remained in Tirana on Wednesday night, they had their hands full with 115 Democratic Party activists who were peacefully protesting in “Skënderbej” Square, precisely so that Albania would no longer be prey to those who wanted to break the prison bars and seize power that evening. Because while the deputies, who still reek of March last year, were voting to send Azem Hajdari to prison and the Tirana police director, Berme paal, for Ridvan Bode, Zani Çaushi and forty others were trying to get out of prison, etc. Between the cold-blooded killings that followed this [unclear] sentence, the massacres and the spreading of fear among people, and the opposition which is now beginning to be attacked, Fatos Nano’s government has chosen terror. (Continued on page 2)

Berisha condemns violence and calls for restraint I take this opportunity to call on all Albanians to avoid any act of violence or destruction and to exercise restraint in the face of any provocation involving violence and destruction. We do nothing but destroy our future, our country. Democracy cannot be achieved through violence and destruction. But today I denounce the violence that the governing coalition is perpetrating against the opposition. This violence, this terror, destabilizes the country. The use of violence against the opposition means not bringing the country out of the crisis, but deepening the crisis. I urge Albanian citizens to be inspired by the peaceful protests of the opposition, which, over seven months of demonstrations, has not broken even a single window. The opposition has at times chosen self-sacrifice to defend its rights, rather than violence and destruction. The Democratic Party is, and will remain, a party of democratic means and methods. It has condemned every act of violence and terror and will condemn them forcefully. the crisis. Violence and terror against the opposition increase the climate of conflict, which Albania does not need. I also denounce the irresponsible accusations made by officials against the opposition. The Democratic Party is therefore against violence and terror. From 1991 until today, it has committed itself solely to democratic means and methods.

Telephone conversation Prodi-Berisha Yesterday morning, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi telephoned PD Chairman Berisha and had a friendly conversation with him about recent developments and the situation in Albania as a whole. Prime Minister Prodi expressed deep concern about developments in Albania over recent weeks and voiced his hope and wish that the situation would be overcome in a spirit of cooperation among the political forces. Berisha expressed his view that the crisis in Albania was rapidly worsening and stressed that he and the Democratic Party were opposed to acts of violence and terror, and had called—and continued to call—on Albanians to exercise restraint. However, a series of factors directly linked to the government and its activities were worsening the crisis. Of great concern was the violence and terror being inflicted on the opposition, the politically motivated imprisonment of its prominent members, the arrest of 100 of them, and the removal of a mandate for wholly political reasons, as in the case of Democratic Party deputy Mr. Hajdari. By using violence and terror against the opposition, the government is contributing to the destabilization of the country. I want to stress on this occasion, Mr. Berisha told him, that during seven months of peaceful protest, the opposition has not allowed, and will not allow, the slightest act of destruction. Prime Minister Prodi pointed out that he was calling on Albanians to avoid acts of violence that destroy the chances of overcoming the crisis, attracting investment, and developing the country. The conversation was friendly and sincere.

Breaking news The spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior announced yesterday that the riot at Tirana prison was directly linked to the PD’s failure to continue participating in Parliament. “The opposition parliamentary group’s delay in taking its seat in the assembly caused the riot at Tirana’s high-security prison, a riot organized by Genc Pollo and Ridvan Bode,” the spokesperson concluded. The Ministry, citing the needs of the investigation, gave no details about how the senior PD leaders had entered the prison and organized the inmates. Yesterday, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Works also commented on the outbreak, saying that the PD was preventing them from filling the potholes in the roads: “The worse the road repairs get, the more PD supporters come out to hold rallies. So we ‘are’ done for,” the spokesperson for the department concluded in his statement.

The PD backs December leader Azem Hajdari. Nano fleshes out his platform for declaring the PD a terrorist political grouping ON PAGE 3 The opposition meets representatives of the BEP The police must be separated from crime “BEP and MAPE will not help anyone in the police who has a past tainted by crime,” the BEP Secretary-General, Hoze Kutilioro, told representatives of the opposition in Parliament yesterday. Mr. Çenç Pollo, chairman of the PD parliamentary group, presented the opposition’s concerns about crime and criminality in the country, as well as problems within the police, to the BEP delegation. On behalf of the opposition, Pollo asked the BEP Secretariat to ensure that there was no place in the Albanian police for bandits, who, along with the security service, had become the majority. Pollo also requested that the police not be used by those in power to attack the opposition. The parliamentary opposition representatives expressed their satisfaction and set out ... by Pollo. The PD deputy chairman also thanked Kutilioro for the MAPE Mission in Albania and for the assistance it had provided and was providing to the Albanian police. The opposition representatives spoke out against crime in general and organized crime in the country, and in favor of restoring law and order in Albania. They expressed support for the law-enforcement forces in all their efforts to combat crime and restore order. The BEP representatives expressed their willingness to continue assisting the police in the future through the MAPE mission. In addition to representatives of the Union for Democracy of Italy, PR Chairman Fatmir Mediu and Balli Deputy Chairman Hysen Selfo were also present.

Government meeting to physically crush the Albanian opposition as well Prime Minister Fatos Nano yesterday asked the police, SHIK, the prosecution service, and the courts to intensify still further the bloodshed, terror, and violence against the opposition in general and the Democratic Party in particular. A desperate prime minister and a desperate government found the PD to blame last night for the lack of law and order, the burning of Shkodra, and the prison riots. Delivering a party-political speech from the prime minister’s chair, Nano was unable to tell Albanians anything about rising prices, the money he stole from Albanians and the huge deception he perpetrated, unemployment reaching its highest levels, the poor, the violence and insecurity he inflicted on Albanians, or the constant shortages of bread and water. Last night Nano declared his failure. He is the only prime minister in the world to pin that failure on the opposition, as though the PD had appointed him prime minister, as though the PD had chosen his ministers, and as though he had not received the necessary instructions from the PD headquarters. Despite having an overwhelming majority and unlimited power, including over the President, the Albanian prime minister has still been unable to offer Albanians even one of the promises he made during the campaign. Last night the prime minister came out as a partisan—or, rather, declared the government a committee, like those of last year. He took up arms against the PD. In the language of a dictator, he ordered the opposition to be wiped out by every means. Nothing more can be expected from a product of the street, gangs, theft, and murder. The Albanian prime minister is a product of the spring of ’97. All Albanians know what that spring was. No one should doubt that from a mountain of killings and crimes, a mountain of theft and looting, and a political-bandit unit such as the governing coalition, nothing can be expected except the spectacle put on last night by the government and its prime minister. It is not a government, but a group of men and women who politically prostitute themselves at the expense of all Albanians. Let Nano claim that the PD has taken criminals under its protection—but who are they? Criminals have been and remain on the side of the Socialist Party and the current government. Criminals are in Parliament, in government offices, and others roam freely in the streets of Tirana, Vora, and Tepelena. Criminals and crime are part of today’s government, and eliminating them would also mean eliminating the government. The PD has never once spoken in favor of criminals; on the contrary, a thousand times more often than the prime minister or his Interior Minister, it has asked the government not to make them ministers, directors, SHIK officers, or police officers. The PD is aware that it is in opposition to political crime, economic crime, crime of mugës, ordinary crime, and simply a government or group of neo-Communist parties, united moreover by the geography of the street, family ties, clanism, smuggling, and group crime.

Members of the National Council of the Democratic Party Youth Forum are hereby informed that the National Council meeting will be held on Saturday, 28.02.1998, at 12:00, with the following agenda: 1. Election of the governing bodies 2. Other matters