Albania Declares State of Emergency

TIRANA, Albania —  Facing growing anti-government unrest, parliament declared a state of emergency Sunday, allowing the army to be deployed to ensure public order and weapons to be used to protect public buildings and key roads.

The country has been racked by riots and protests that have grown out of rage over the collapse of popular pyramid schemes.

A day earlier, President Sali Berisha announced that his Cabinet will resign and be replaced by new ministers--still from his Democratic Party of Albania but approved by the Socialists and other opposition groups.

The government hopes the political shuffling will mollify protesters, who blame the ruling party for not warning them about the riskiness of the pyramid schemes, in which nearly every Albanian lost money.

Despite the state of emergency, fresh violence flared Sunday, with gunfire killing at least four people.

The Interior Ministry said an 8-year-old girl and another resident were killed in the southern city of Vlore and that a hospital employee was killed in Fier, north of Vlore. In Gjirokaster, near the Greek border, one person was killed and two were injured, hospital officials said.