By DASHNOR KALOÇI
Part Three
Memorie.al / Exactly 35 years ago, on February 20, 1991, thousands of citizens from Tirana and other districts across the country – who had arrived or were present in the capital during those days – achieved a historic feat. After numerous efforts and clashes with police forces and special troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in “Skanderbeg” Square, at 2:10 PM, they managed to topple the magnificent bronze monument of dictator Enver Hoxha, the symbol of communism in Albania.
They dragged the statue, tied behind an “IFA” truck, all the way to “Student City” (Qyteti Studenti), where the University of Tirana students were continuing their hunger strike. The students were demanding that the government remove Enver Hoxha’s name from the State University of Tirana. This event, which caused a great sensation across the country (as it was broadcast live by Albanian Radio-Television), is now well-known. Since that time, over three and a half decades, dozens of articles, programs, photo exhibitions, archival documents, film footage, books, and TV documentaries have been published, where eyewitnesses and protagonists have shared their testimonies of everything that transpired.
The toppling of dictator Enver Hoxha’s monument in Tirana had a “domino effect.” Starting that day and into the next, it incited rallies and protests in several other cities and districts where monuments, statues, and busts of the dictator were located—such as Durrës, Fier, Korçë, Gjirokastër, Skrapar, Poliçan, etc. However, these events also sparked strong reactions, not only from the high leadership of the AWP (PPSH) and the government of that time (who, in addition to Interior Ministry forces, had activated special forces and military units from the Ministry of Defense) but also from groups of fanatics of the communist regime and ideology. Grouped under the association “Enver’s Volunteers” (Vullnetarët e Enverit), they organized counter-rallies, demanding the re-installation of Enver Hoxha’s monument in Tirana and his statues and busts in other cities from which they had been removed.
As a result of these events, those days saw numerous physical clashes. These occurred not only between law enforcement and the irritated crowds of protesters who had removed the monuments but also between “Enver’s Volunteers” and the students and instructors of the “Enver Hoxha” United High School of Officers (Shkolla e Bashkuar). The latter organized and sought to march toward the center of Tirana with the statue of Enver Hoxha from their school to re-install it in “Skanderbeg” Square, precisely where the bronze monument had stood.
This caused further irritation among tens of capital residents who had participated in the February 20th protest. They surrounded the United School of Officers to prevent the students from exiting the gates and re-installing the statue.
From these clashes, there were unfortunately deaths and injuries on both sides, as well as dozens of arrests among those participating in the rallies to topple the monuments. Likewise, the demand of the military students at the United Officers’ School to re-install the monument sparked a reaction from the Democratic Party. In addition to its engagement, a few days later, the party distributed a communiqué throughout Tirana, inviting all citizens to observe five minutes of silence as a sign of homage and respect for those killed at the United School.
However, beyond what was broadcast by Albanian Radio-Television on the afternoon of February 20, 1991—which reflected almost the entire event of the monument’s fall—or some short chronicles in the following days, most other events that occurred until the end of February in Tirana, various districts, or Burrel Prison, remain almost entirely unknown.
Based on this fact, in this article, we are publishing secret archival documents extracted from the Archives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (now declassified). Through operational communiqués, most events of those days are reflected, including the names of all those killed, injured, and the dozens arrested and accused of participating in the rallies and protests to topple the monuments, statues, and busts of Enver Hoxha, both in Tirana and other districts. With a few minor exceptions, all these documents (along with their respective facsimiles) are being published for the first time by Memorie.al.
Continued from the previous issue…
SECRET OPERATIONAL COMMUNICATION OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR DATED 26 FEBRUARY 1991, CONCERNING THE ARRESTS OF PERSONS WHO HAD TAKEN PART IN THE COLLAPSE OF THE MONUMENT OF ENVER HOXHA IN TIRANA AND BUSTS IN OTHER DISTRICT OF THE COUNTRY
PEOPLE’S SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA SECRET
MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS Copy No. 1
GENERAL BRANCH Tirana, 1.3.1991
OPERATIONAL COMMUNICATION NO. 50
TIRANA
- On February 28, 1991, Dritan Kadri Hamdiu, aged 28, a worker at the Military Typography, was detained for participating in the toppling of the Enver Hoxha monument.
- On February 28, 1991, Andrea Llazar Kosteci, previously convicted, was detained for going to Kindergarten No. 22 as a representative of the Democratic Party and tearing up photographs and works of Enver Hoxha.
KORÇA
- On February 28, 1991, Enver Ismail Muharremi, aged 39, a worker, was detained for participating in the toppling of the Enver Hoxha monument and for assaulting law enforcement forces.
KRUJA
- On February 28, 1991, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM, a group of 300 people gathered in the square before the Skanderbeg monument in an illegal rally, demanding the cancellation of the “Enver Hoxha Volunteer Activists” Association rally scheduled for March 1, 1991. Due to nightfall, law enforcement forces were not deployed.
FIERI
- On February 28, 1991, Hilmi Haxhia, aged 37, a worker, twice previously convicted, was detained for participating in the toppling of the Enver Hoxha bust.
HEAD OF THE DIRECTION GROUP
HAKI LIÇAJ
SECRET OPERATIONAL COMMUNICATION OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR DATED 4 MARCH 1991, REGARDING THE ARREST OF CITIZEN ENGJËLL LEK MILOTI BY THE UNCLE OF LEZHA AND SOME OTHERS WHO HAD TAKEN PART IN THE TOWING OF THE BUST OF ENVER HOXHA
PEOPLE’S SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA SECRET
MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS Copy No. 1
GENERAL BRANCH Tirana, 4.3.1991
OPERATIVE COMMUNICATION NO. 52
LEZHA
- On March 3, 1991, Engjëll Lek Miloti, aged 24, a resident of Dajç, was detained for toppling the bust of Enver Hoxha in the village along with other individuals.
HEAD OF THE DIRECTION GROUP
ALI MËZYRI
SECRET OPERATIONAL COMMUNICATION OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR DATED 4 MARCH 1991, REGARDING THE ARREST OF CITIZEN ENGJËLL LEK MILOTI BY THE UNCLE OF LEZHA AND SOME OTHERS WHO HAD TAKEN PART IN THE TOWING OF THE BUST OF ENVER HOXHA
PEOPLE’S SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA SECRET
MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS Copy No. 1
GENERAL BRANCH Tirana, 6.3.1991
OPERATIVE COMMUNICATION NO. 54
KORÇA
- On March 5, 1991, the following individuals were arrested: Pëllumb Muharrem Kafazi, aged 48, worker; Enver Ismail Kyçyku, aged 38, driver; Rasim Muharrem Kafazi, aged 56, worker at the Agricultural Enterprise; Engjëll Ritvan Mullalli, aged 39, worker at the Agricultural Enterprise; Demir Nazmi Demiri, aged 36, worker at the Agricultural Enterprise; and Gurkë Asllan Palla, aged 46, worker at the Agricultural Enterprise. The reason for their arrest was acting in violation of Decree No. 7459, dated January 21, 1991, by toppling the monument of Enver Hoxha./Memorie.al
HEAD OF THE DIRECTION GROUP
ARTILIER SHEHU
