“Xhaka” and “Maloku” accused of murder, armed robbery and robberies while masked They seized 2 armored cars, 5 stolen cars, 5 police radios, 10 masks, anti-tank shells PAGE 3

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PSD Secretary General Dhori Kule speaks PAGE 6

By Neshat Tozaj PAGE 2

Hajdaraga: The commandos will restore the state’s efficiency and authority PAGES 2–3

By Erion BRAÇE In a country where the freedom of any citizen is violated by the absence of rules, order and enforcement of the law, the first thing that must be done is to define and establish them. Order—and, moreover, strict order backed by the force of law—must prevail everywhere. Naturally, one must take into account that this legal action affects the interests of the mafia, illegal businesses, the administration’s “white collars,” or the interests of all those who make their living from these illegal activities. Something like this has been happening in the port of Durrës for a few days. After the people of Durrës, complaining about the absence of the state in the port and the presence of corruption and mega-trafficking—in other words, the mafia—joined merchants’ complaints about massive bribes paid on behalf of state officials, both uniformed and suited, and received confirmation from the international institutions working at the port, the government took the extreme measure of intervening to impose strict order. It acted against all citizens who break the law, but also against state officials who cannot wait to line their pockets to bursting. But just three days of rules seem to have made the people of Durrës change their minds. It seems that the new rules, which began with the bluntest possible wording—“there is no order, there is no state, there is corruption”—are now beginning another refrain, “meng…” Insulting the state is becoming the most patriotic thing to do in Albania today, because according to those doing the insulting, it serves the new elections. Some hear it in the most abnormal way: “we don’t like the fact that the port has become a prison.” The motive behind this anomaly is that smuggling and the removal of port workers affect the “white collars.” According to them, the white collars do the work of the stevedore, the transporter, the guard, the paymaster and the mafioso all at once. But the truth is that each has their own role and their own pay. This time the state has decided to stand against all of them in order to provide security for life and property for the majority—precisely those who do not feel the urge to make money by the sack. If yesterday all that was done was to establish rules, today the next step must be taken: punishing those who break them. Whether they are bandits or state officials. Whether they are shipowners or their assistants, drivers of tankers and trucks who jump in to block the port. Everyone must understand clearly, especially those who speak in the name of “bread and butter,” that this bread is not earned by taking away the livelihood of the majority of Albanians in the most brutal, most criminal way. Those 20-year-old boys, who have forgotten their proper names as they came to be known as “commandos,” have decided to do this in the strictest way the law allows.

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