Insurgents looted arms depots and seized four more towns in southern Albania, witnesses said Monday, as violence persisted despite the president's promise of new elections. Six people were reported killed in the unrest.
The seizure of Berat, Kucova, Corovod and Permet indicated southern rebels were not appeased by President Sali Berisha's deal with opposition leaders to create a coalition government and hold elections by June.The towns are 40 to 120 miles south of Tirana, the capital. Berat is near Albania's largest air base, and Permet had a 1,000-man army barracks that could have moved against the rebel forces.
Army units reportedly started to withdraw from the towns after Sunday's political agreement - and protesters looted barracks and depots as troops and police pulled out.
Berisha offered the concessions in an attempt to quell the rebellion, which grew from protests over failed high-risk investment schemes in which nearly every Albanian family lost money. Generally wealthier southerners lost more than those living in the north, Berisha's main base of support.
Many blame the government for not deterring people from investing in the pyramid schemes - and some say it profited from the funds.
Witnesses in Permet, reached by telephone, said Monday that five people were killed in skirmishes between the army and rebellious protesters.
When the army began to withdraw, people rushed into the street to celebrate. In addition, one man was shot in the head, apparently by a sniper. No other details were available.
Residents of Berat, also reached by telephone, said their town had been seized and the army barracks there looted.
They said police withdrew along with the army, apparently fearing revenge from civilians, and that young boys were seen dragging Kalashnikov assault rifles through the streets.
Protesters fired in the air to celebrate and raced around in cars, said the residents who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Armed protesters torched a police station in Corovod on Sunday night and took over the town when police left to cover an army withdrawal, the official ATA news agency reported.
Far to the south, Greek police said Albanian border police had fled their posts when armed protesters showed up.
Berisha had met with representatives of 10 political parties, including his own Democrats, on Sunday to try to quell the unrest.
Their agreement included a gradual lifting of the state of emergency imposed a week ago, and elections to be held no later than June. Berisha said a new government made up of all of Albania's political parties should run the country before the elections.