This illustrates the anarchy that has reigned in Albania since its peculiar brand of Chinese communism lost its iron grip 10 years ago. Freedom simply got out of hand, the mayor, Edi Rama, says. Even Mrs Thatcher would have been astonished at our success in embracing capitalism. There is no society.
Private property is the only thing that matters.
Everything else is not our concern. The stolen Mercedes arrive daily on a special car ferry from Italy run by the mafia. Since Albania has no method of disposing of old cars, its roads are littered with wrecks. For a country that did not allow private car ownership until 1990 and then had only 20,000 cars, it is an extraordinary transformation. Officially Albania is a very poor country, but drug trafficking, illegal immigrant networks and prostitution rackets have transformed the economy.