TIRANA, Albania ­ The Albanian government ordered curfews, roadblocks and newspaper censorship under its new emergency powers Monday and gave security forces the right to fire without warning at armed resisters.

Despite weeks of protests demanding that the government be sacked, parliament easily re-elected President Sali Berisha to a five-year term.

"Today is the day of open dictatorship in Albania," said Neritan Ceka, the head of the opposition Democratic Alliance. "Only a dictator could be elected under such conditions, with martial law."

State media reported that gangs have seized weapons from two southern army bases and crowds have looted an arsenal in another southern city, Vlora.

A few shots were heard in Tirana just after the 8 p.m. curfew took effect. It was not clear where they came from. Officers with rifles slung over their shoulders patrolled the capital; police stopped cars at checkpoints.

Under the state of emergency regulations, broadcast on state television early Monday, people cannot walk in groups of more than four, newspapers must submit stories to the government's Defense Council before publication, and police may shoot anyone who throws objects at them.

Foreigners were ordered out of southern Albania, and an Italian military helicopter evacuated 36 people, including 15 journalists, from Vlora across the Adriatic Sea to Brindisi, Italy.

Fearing an exodus of Albanians, Greece and Italy cut ferry service to Albania on Monday and Greece increased patrols along its northern frontiers.

Italy dreads a repeat of a 1991 refugee flotilla, when tens of thousands of Albanians fled across the Adriatic on overcrowded ferries and homemade rafts.

The curfew is in effect from 8 p.m. ­ 7 a.m. Under the regulations, anyone without identification will be accompanied to a police station; in case of resistance, police will fire a warning shot, then shoot to kill.

The state of emergency was declared Sunday in an attempt to squash violence growing out of public rage over the collapse of high-risk investment schemes in which nearly every Albanian family lost money.

Government authority appeared to have dissolved across much of southern Albania, where civilians have seized arms.

At least three people died in clashes Sunday and Monday in the southern towns of Fieri, Saranda and Gjirokastra, state radio reported.

In Fieri, trucks and cars from Vlora surrounded the headquarters of an army division and opened fire.

The crowd seized all the weapons stored in the barracks before police arrived to rescue the commander, state radio said.

In Saranda, what the radio characterized as "terrorist gangs" were shooting in the air, and seized 2,000 rifles and an army boat Monday from a naval base. State radio said they were traveling the coast, shooting from the boat. The city library, prosecutor's office, courthouse and nine police cars also were torched.

State television reported an arsenal in Vlora was looted. Civilians distributed and carried weapons in some areas of southern Albania, including Orikum, an army base south of Vlora.

Also looted was the army base in Himara in southern Albania, where people also took army rations, local sources said.

Berisha and his Democrats blame the unrest on political foes, including the Socialists - successors to the communists who kept Albania isolated and impoverished for decades. Berisha's foes charge that the Democrats were at least negligent in not warning people off the investment schemes.

The army chief of staff, Sheme Kosova, was replaced by Adem Copani, a former military adviser to Berisha. The commander of the National Guard, responsible for guarding government buildings, and several generals also were sacked, said a source close to the military.

Prosecutor General Alush Dragoshi said that those convicted of organizing the uprising could be sentenced to life in prison or death. Other participants faced 15-25 years in jail, he said.

Parliamentary deputies applauded and chanted "Sali Berisha, Sali Berisha" after re-electing him Monday in a 113-1 vote with four abstentions.

Plainclothes police dressed in denim jackets drew their pistols and shot in the air in celebration outside Berisha's Democratic Party headquarters and in the courtyard of parliament.

A smiling Berisha promised to "protect and develop democracy, freedom and human rights" as his Defense Council put the tough new powers into place.

Opposition leaders boycotted the vote.

In Vlora, 46 students early Monday ended a hunger strike they began Feb. 21, discouraged by the declaration of a state of emergency.

The students had been pressing for the resignation of the government.

All sports and cultural activities were canceled.

In Tirana, the offices of the Koha Jone independent daily newspaper were burned and damaged.