(Fwd) [78] PROTESTERS TAKE CONTROL OF CITY, BURY VICTIM OF RIO

["Curtis Price" <cansv@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Date:          Tue, 11 Feb 1997 19:18:28 -0500
From:          NewsHound@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (NewsHound)

Subject:       [78] PROTESTERS TAKE CONTROL OF CITY, BURY VICTIM OF RIOTING

Selected by your NewsHound profile entitled "RIOTS". The selectivity score was
78 out of 100.

Protesters take control of city, bury victim of rioting
By MERITA DHIMGJOKA

Associated Press Writer

VLORA, Albania (AP) -- Police, overwhelmed in riots a day earlier, gave up the
streets of this southern port city Tuesday to 40,000 angry demonstrators who
accuse the officers of murder.

The protesters had assembled to bury the first victim of a month of nationwide
rioting over collapsing pyramid schemes, but nobody tried to stop them when they
 set fire to the ruling Democratic Party headquarters.

``Police killed him!'' the crowd chanted, marching behind the open casket of
Artur Rustemi to the city cemetery where the 30-year-old store owner was to be
buried. ``The government killed him!''

There was no firm evidence of who fired the shot that killed Rustemi, one of two
 who died in Vlora's rioting Monday. Eighty-one others were hurt. It was the
worst unrest in the month since high-risk investment plans, many resembling
pyramid schemes, began collapsing.

Many Albanians, for decades Europe's poorest people, desperately invested in the
 schemes and blame the government for failing to act quickly to stem their
losses. Many also believe President Sali Berisha's Democratic Party directly
benefited from the shady ventures.

With the police out of sight and other possible targets -- such as public
buildings -- already ransacked, there was little other violence Tuesday.

Rustemi was hit by a bullet that cracked his collar bone and lodged in his lung,
 and died later Monday. On Tuesday, his open coffin was carried behind a black
Mercedes bearing his picture.

The crowd waved national flags and chanted, ``We will take revenge!'' ``Berisha
killed him!'' and ``Down with dictatorship!''

``He did nothing but ask for his own money,'' said Rustemi's 23-year-old wife,
Donika.

At one point, the crowd sat quietly, the silence pierced only by women's wails.

Outside Vlora, burning tires and wood still smoldered Tuesday from a half-dozen
roadblocks and bonfires. In the evening, 5,000 people marched in from the town
of Fier, 20 miles away, joining Vlora residents on the streets. Traffic was
chaotic.

Some marchers went to the building where Rustemi lived, and stood outside his
second-floor apartment, holding candles and burning lighters in a sign of
respect.

A local TV station showed film of the funeral, and people crowded around TV sets
 to watch.

In the capital of Tirana, Prime Minister Alexander Meksi announced a partial
state of emergency Monday, saying parliament would pass a law allowing the army
to be brought in to protect Vlora's port and other key public places. The law
could apply to other towns if rioting spreads.

In a sign of discontent, the Republican Party, a small coalition partner of the
Democrats, announced Tuesday it was leaving the government and called on the
Democrats to quit.

Their departure embarrasses but does not threaten the government -- the
Republicans have only two seats in the 140-seat parliament to the Democrats'
122.

Socialists, the largest opposition party, called on Berisha to fire local
police, top Interior Ministry and intelligence officials and to prosecute them
for using violence against protesters.

It also accused Berisha and Meksi of trying to retain power ``even at the cost
of blood and terror.''

For decades, Albania was the poorest country in Europe, but it had made some
economic progress since Communist rule ended in 1991-92. However, economists now
 say much of that progress was based on the shady investment funds.

The schemes paid off early investors with the proceeds of those who came later,
and collapsed when the flow of new capital ran out.

The government has promised a partial payback, but that effort -- begun last
week -- has reached only a small portion of Albania's 3.2 million people.

AP-WS-02-11-97 1626EST




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