HUNDREDS of riot police swarmed through the centre of Tirana to prevent Albania's opposition from staging new anti government protests yesterday.
But in the southern port of Vlore, where a policeman was shot dead, the government abandoned its attempt to institute a state of emergency, preferring diplomacy in trying to quell riots.
In Tirana, two truckloads of police descended on the headquarters of the opposition alliance, Forum for Democracy, and prevented prominent politicians, including the Socialist party leader, Mr Rexhep Mejdani, from leaving.
Bystanders shouted: "We will turn this into a Vlore" - a reference to the three deaths there this week during protests.
The leader of the Social Democratic Party, Mr Skender Gjinushi, said: "This is intolerable. All the leaders of the opposition were prevented from taking part on the orders of the interior ministry.
"They are afraid of demonstrations in Tirana because demonstrations show the government does not have the support of the people."
He said violence was inevitable if the government did not allow peaceful protests by investors who blame the authorities for the collapse of so called pyramid investment schemes which are estimated to have left one in three Albanians penniless.
The Organisation for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) said it was deeply worried about the violence, warning that the potential for a serious crisis was at hand.
The British government said it was appalled by the violence and "deeply concerned about reports of arrests and intimidation of opposition leaders."
Prime Minister Aleksander Meksi has vowed to crack down on the protests, which he says are organised by left wing extremists.
Vans loaded with khaki clad riot police circulated slowly throughout the centre of the capital. Anyone pausing near central Skanderbeg Square, where protesters failed to stage a rally last weekend, was ushered away.
The Forum, formed by 10 political parties, had scheduled a midday protest at Tirana's main stadium, but the Interior Ministry banned the gathering. The Forum calls for the creation of a "technocrat government".
About 5,000 people massed in the centre of Vlore yesterday. Reports said a policeman, Seezai Zani (30) was shot dead while returning home at 6.00 p.m.
One of the government's first steps to appease angry investors was to sack the highly unpopular police chief in Vlore Mr Fokol Mulosmanj. He was replaced by an officer from the nearby town of Fier.
Hundreds of residents however, gathered in front of the police station yesterday, some of them pledging to burn it down.
Only a handful of police officers were in the building. They wore civilian clothing, fearing being stripped of their police uniforms as happened to some of their colleagues.
The crowd later moved without incident to the central square, where tension remained high.
Vlore, a centre for smuggled goods from Italy which has a long history of hostility to the central authorities, has been the hardest hit by the protests. Daily riots in Vlore this week have left three people dead and 150 injured. Several official buildings were also burned down.
Investors claim the government colluded with the schemes and want it to reimburse them for their losses. The schemes collapsed for lack of new investors.
But the government has denied responsibility.
The Yugoslav news agency FONET reported that the leaders of Gjallica, one of the schemes, had fled to Istanbul last week with the equivalent of £2.5 million.