THE Albanian capital began to resemble a war zone yesterday as gunmen appeared on street corners and anarchy engulfed the city. Elsewhere in Albania, fighting and looting continued, with five people killed in the northern town of Elbasan alone.
In a dramatic development a contingent of US marines flew into Tirana to provide security as US military helicopters began evacuating US nationals, many of them children, the Pentagon announced.
The marines, along with a forward command unit, landed near the US embassy in Tirana aboard four Sea Knight CH-47s from US warships in the Ionian Sea, a Pentagon spokesman, Capt Michael Doubleday, said.
With each passing hour the sound of gunfire encroached on the city centre as warehouses in the suburbs and main approach roads were looted and arms depots pillaged by frantic crowds.
By 5 p.m. the pot holed streets of Tirana were deserted. Only groups of men watched the occasional car speed through the city. Other vehicles, weighed down by looted goods, lumbered around the many holes and bumps in the roads.
Late last night, a tank was seen taking up position outside the building where embattled President Sali Berisha is sheltering, and another tank was patrolling a boulevard where several government ministries are situated.
Meanwhile, the British embassy organised an evacuation of British, Irish and other European Union citizens, from the capital. More than 100 worried looking people sat on the pavement outside the embassy with their bags packed.
One aid worker, Mr Sean Robinson, waiting to be evacuated, said that looters had arrived as be left his office for the last time yesterday morning.
"They were ripping the windows out. I was hoping that maybe just they would take a few things but then the whole lot came over the wall," Mr Robinson said. The depot had a consignment of computers, food, clothing, hospital beds and other goods.
With Tirana's airport closed, the aim was to drive to the port of Durres to evacuate the group by helicopter to a waiting Italian navy vessel. Early reports said blockages on the road to the port forced the 15 car convoy to return to the city. However, the embassy in Tirana last night indicated that the convoy had arrived in Durres.
Two nuns who had been in a northern town, Rubik, for the last 18 months were also waiting to leave. They said their town had fallen to anti government rebels on Wednesday, forcing them to sneak out of the town yesterday.
An Irish nun, Sister Veronica, said that young men in the towns who were unemployed and listless "have no leaders. There's nobody now. Where are they going to turn for leadership except to the gun?". She added: "Only the Lord can do something for them now".
As night fell several helicopters could be heard overflying the city. Diplomatic sources said US aircraft were making reconnaissance flights in preparation for an evacuation of embassy staff today.
Some blame the fast crumbling authority of the ruling Democratic Party for creating the panic in the city. The head of the social Democratic party, Mr Skender Gjinushi, said: "The Democratic Party structure is organising this, absolutely."
Elsewhere in Albania there were equally chaotic scenes. Five people were killed by gunfire in Elbasan, 50 km from Tirana, hospital staff said. The deaths brought to 18 the number of people killed since Wednesday.
Neighbouring Yugoslavia and Maceddina heightened their state of alert and sealed their borders with Albania.
The new government of President Berisha and Prime Minister Bashkim Fino called on the EU, the Western European Union and NATO to intervene militarily to help control the situation.
A spokesman for the US State Department, Mr Nicholas Burns, said Washington was watching the situation closely and had not ruled out intervention. The Dutch Foreign Minister, Mr Hans van Mierlo, said the EU had not decided against military involvement.
More than 1,000 prisoners have broken out of jails across Albania, including the leader of the opposition Socialist Party and all 600 inmates at Tirana's main jail, the director of prisons said yesterday.
The Socialist leaders, Mr Fatos Nano, jailed since 1993 for diverting millions of dollars of Italian aid, and Albania's last communist leader, Mr Ramiz Alia, accused of genocide, were among those who escaped from the capital's main prison.