The Zani gang, which suffered an attack by heavy machine guns the other day, is holed up in the Ciole quarter and has organized check points, like a military force. The schools are closed, and people's blinds are drawn. The tide of anarchy has prompted a kind of self- imposed siege, but nobody surrounds a city which can be entered only under escort and which it is dangerous to leave. Only the beach shows signs of life. Little children jump from the jetty, a few fishermen are returning to shore, and the illegal emigres' inflatable dinghies try out their engines.
Nobody can impose order.
Officially, there is a police force, but none of the policemen are willing to go into the streets. We cannot intervene in the gang warfare. This is the prelude to secession. A few bridges have already been blown up further south, in Gjirokaster province. The fact that the country is split is shown by the surreal election campaign begun, without agreed rules, by President Berisha, who yesterday held a rally in Fier, the last area south of Tirana still under his control.