By Arben Shahini

On February 19, '91, at around 15:00 PM, the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Albanian People's Party issued a statement, emphasizing that the living conditions of students had improved considerably and rejected the students' request to remove Enver Hoxha's name from the University of Tirana, as unfounded. The Central Committee's resistance ended after two months, when the name Enver Hoxha was removed from the University of Tirana. Numerous special forces, for maintaining order and rapid intervention, equipped with rubber suits, rubber batons, tear gas and border dogs, had blocked the road leading from the Artistic Lyceum to the Radio-Television building. They had also blocked the road with two army "IFA" vehicles for this purpose.

The three days of the student hunger strike had tense the situation in Tirana. Several hundred thousand people made their way to the City Cinema Club “Studenti” to express their solidarity and support for the striking students. On February 20, 1991, the square in front of the Cinema Club was more crowded than ever in those days. The crowd’s chants of “Students are heroes”, “We are with the students”, “Down with the dictatorship”, “Enver-Hitler”, and “We will remove the stench”, were a great encouragement to the striking students. Nearly 900 striking students holed up in these premises. The strike organizing committee did not allow the camera operators of Albanian Television, as well as any citizen who was not a student or lecturer of the University of Tirana, to enter the strike premises.

In the premises of the “Student” City, thousands and thousands of citizens and families of the striking students gathered, worried about their relatives. We remember the slogans that the citizens shouted outside in support of the students: “Come gather here, here, with us”. “Down with the bureaucrats” and many other patriotic slogans. Only the Democratic Party television operator, Agim Buxheli, entered the students, who made rare footage of the isolated students.

From the balcony of the Geology dormitory building, various speakers delivered speeches against the government and the ALP, which were sacrificing students for the name of a dead man. Thanks to the good organization of the Unions, especially those of the Miners, it was possible to gather nearly 100 thousand people, including workers, students, teachers, and other citizens of Tirana, who protested in the “Student” City, in support of the students’ hunger strike. The first to arrive were the miners of Valias, who, chanting from “Rruga e Durrës” to the “Student” City, managed to gather around them a crowd of nearly 10 thousand citizens.

At around 10:00 in the “Student” City, there must have been 100 thousand protesters. They all together cheered for victory and expressed their hatred towards the communist regime by promoting slogans such as: “O Ramiz o zagar, do të

Ms. Bulku's call came at a moment when it seemed that all the protesters heard her. A group of protesters, mainly consisting of family members and mothers of the students on hunger strike, headed towards the Presidency to meet Ramiz Alina. While the main crowd of protesters headed towards the Artistic Lyceum. At the head of the protesters, we placed women and small children so that the police would not mistreat the crowd of protesters.

A crowd of about 100 thousand people has moved through the “Elbasani” Street. At the Lyceum, rows of police officers with spacesuits and weapons appear in front of the people. Police dogs rush at the people, while “Kalashnikovs” are emptied on the heads of the protesters, who are throwing stones and hard objects at the police and Special Forces. The crowd pushes forward, but now in the direction of “Skënderbej” Square.

The battle of the square is decisive. After a clash between the people and the forces of the Ministry of the Interior, the bust feels the first tremors. At 2:00 p.m., the monument to Enver Hoxha falls on its left side, after three or four strong tremors. Some people had worked on the feet of the bust, where the retaining screws were, while others had thrown a rope down its throat. Enver fell and with him his myth. Police and citizens hugged for a few moments in the square.

The atmosphere was quite heated. Hundreds and thousands of people were pushing each other to trample the statue that was being trampled on. For eight hours in a row, the statue of the dictatorship dragged through Tirana. The hatred for the dictatorship was being demonstrated quite clearly at those moments. After the fall, the monument, divided into two parts, was connected by a cable to a garbage truck, which began to drag it to the premises of the "Student" City, where the students' hunger strike was continuing.

All along the way, people continued to spit and trample on the shattered monument of the dictator. On the streets of Tirana, you could see people in tears of joy, who could not believe that the monument of the dictator had been torn down. Everyone joined together in a long line, continuing their walk towards the building where the students' hunger strike was taking place. The meeting point was exactly that, the building of the students on hunger strike. Over a hundred thousand people in a giant chorus were shouting non-stop; "we took it away, we took it away, we took the stench away".

The dictatorship's reaction

Immediately after the monument was toppled, the government representative, the Minister of Education, Skënder Gjinushi, admitted that the dictator’s name would be removed from the university. Meanwhile, a statement from the office of Prime Minister Adil Çarçani was published, stating: “Since it will be reorganized, the University of Tirana will no longer bear the name of Enver Hoxha. This decree enters into force immediately.”

After the loss of the monument, “Enver’s Volunteers” threatened to march on Tirana to restore the monument and declare Vlora the new capital of Albania. On February 21, 1991, at 11:00 am, shouts were heard from the “Block” of the leadership. A spontaneous gathering took place, which marched towards the “Block”. The crowd was stopped by Neritan Ceka, at the “Dajti” Hotel.

In these circumstances, Ramiz Alia announced the creation of the Presidential Council, Adil Çarçani leaves and his place is taken by Fatos Nano, former deputy director of the Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies. On February 22, the situation worsens further, the revolt of the military begins at the United Officers' Academy "Enver Hoxha". The State Security begins its attack on the democrats. Many activists of the Democratic Party are hit in Tirana, Elbasan, Korça, Fier, Lushnja, etc.

The military announces an Initiating Commission of the “Movement for the Protection of People’s Institutions.” They issue an ultimatum to the political forces, for a referendum on Enver, as well as for the implementation of the law on the protection of monuments and the placing of the RTSH under the direct subordination of the Presidential Council.

The military demands revenge. On February 22, a meeting is held between them and the politicians. The February 22 meeting saw a fierce battle between representatives of the opposition led by Abdi Baleta and the military. Baleta immediately declared that the actions of the military could be called a coup.

The situation became tense after the news that the military would bring the bust of the dictator that they had in their school, in "Skënderbej" Square, at night. The crowd surrounded the Academy. Meanwhile, inside the school there were clashes between the military students, but also against Enver. The military would reach the peak of the pressure when they summoned Ramiz Ali to the Ministry of Interior. They demanded an account from him as to why he had not taken measures to protect Enver Hoxha?! Ramiz defended himself by saying that; "he had given the order to shoot, but they had not carried out the order".

On February 23, Tirana woke up shaken by bloodshed. According to the news of the time, four people had been killed, including a policeman and a 12-year-old girl named Olta. She died, watching television in her home, from a stray bullet. The country was heading towards disaster and despair. Meanwhile, on March 6, 20 people boarded ships in Durrës and set off for Italy, leaving behind little hope for a life in peace and tranquility.

The first photojournalists to capture the bust's fall

On February 20, 1991, all the world's television channels broadcast as front-page news a volcano of hatred that erupted over a seven-meter-high statue of dictator Enver Hoxha. Although the monument to the communist leader was nothing more than a bronze mound, located in Tirana's largest square, its toppling was a symbol of the collapse of a dogmatic system whose time had come to go. Lulëzim Lika, at the time a photojournalist for the Albanian Telegraphic Agency, was one of the few who managed to capture this historic moment.

The photo of the bust falling was broadcast by ATSH, with the caption "View from the fall of the bust of Enver Hoxha", even though, ironically, the daughter-in-law of Enver Hoxha's son worked in a management position at the only news agency. But it was this photo that would change the career of photojournalist Lika, because the next day, Reuters executives asked him to work for the prestigious agency, with which Lika still works today.

Armando Babani, a photojournalist, remembers that in those gray days he always carried his camera with him. Students in their town were at the height of protests against the communist regime. Luckily, Babani happened to be in “Skënderbej” Square at the right moment. Hundreds of people had climbed onto the terraces and balconies of the buildings, next to the bust. Some of them were the ones who lifted Babani up to one of the balconies on the second floor, where he would be able to capture historical moments. “Climb up because he is a photographer,” Babani recalls today.

"I may have taken 9-10 shots and that was all, almost 1 and a half seconds, because then people covered my torso. I didn't know what would happen later, but today I say that these were the photos of my life," says Babani, one of the most famous photojournalists in Albania. Babani's photos were published in the newspaper "Republika" and "Rilindja Demokratike", while today the photos of Lika from ATSH, Babani, but also an Italian photojournalist, are in all media archives everywhere in the world.

Fatmir Çepani, operator at the Albanian Radio-Television, was the only one who captured these historical moments on celluloid. “With the camera on my shoulder, where I was also carrying the weight of dozens of people watching on my body, I managed to film what was happening in the square.” 17 minutes of filming by Fatmir Çepani express the experiences of these historical moments, where chaos reigned, a revolted crowd, bullets, stones and armored police forces. “Reuters”, commenting on the fall of the statue of Enver Hoxha, writes that a hated symbol of the Stalinist past was brought down.

Comments from foreign agencies on the overthrow of the dictator's bust

The British news agency “Reuters”, commenting on the fall of the statue of Enver Hoxha, writes that a hated symbol of the Stalinist past was brought down. A foreign diplomat, this agency comments, emphasized that the statue of the founder of the communist state was brought down after a massive demonstration in the center of “Skënderbej” Square. 100.000 people, not only students, but also workers and intellectuals, gathered in the central square of the capital and throughout the wide boulevard around it. This was the most dangerous, complex event in Albania in recent decades.

In another report, the same agency talks about the change of name of the University of Tirana. Albania's communist authorities, it points out, bowed to popular protests and removed the name of former Stalinist leader Enver Hoxha from the University of Tirana, but warned that the country is on the brink of crisis.

Albania, once the last bastion of Stalinism, has been gripped by change since the first student protests last year. Alia legalized opposition parties and promised further reforms. But he took a tough stance against the striking students, calling their demands undemocratic.

Skanderbeg Square, where thousands of Albanians toppled the large statue of former dictator Enver Hoxha, is the political heart of the country’s Stalinist system, Tirana’s equivalent of Tiananmen Square. In its commentary on recent events in Albania, the Yugoslav news agency Tanjug claims that the massive riots and destruction of the Enver Hoxha monument in Tirana are reminiscent of the beginning of the overthrow of the dictatorship in Romania last winter.

The destruction of the monument to the “father of the nation”, Enver Hoxha in Tirana, was preceded by a small fight between the police and the people, who covered the Special Forces with stones. Armored cars and tanks also appeared on the streets, shots were heard. Together with the monument, the above-mentioned agency emphasized, an era of the not-so-glorious new history of Albania also fell. The police could no longer protect what cannot be protected by the people. They gave up their beloved leader and for this they won the kisses of the exalted mass of the gathered people.

Meanwhile, it is reported that the people have destroyed the monument of Enver Hoxha in the coastal city of Durrës, while the same fate awaits the monument of Enver in Korça. The Romanian events and scenes in Tirana did not remain without echoes among Albanians in Yugoslavia, especially in Kosovo and Western Macedonia. Students in Pristina sent telegrams of support and solidarity to students in Tirana. Telegrams of support to students in Tirana have also been sent by young people from Tetovo, on behalf of the Democratic League of Albanian Youth.

Regarding the toppling of the monument to Enver Hoxha, the Austrian news agency “APA” writes: The fact that the heroic leader of the Albanian people, Enver Hoxha, would be toppled from the pedestal of his monument was simply a matter of time. For years, his Stalinist regime had been responsible for the catastrophic mismanagement of the economy and the isolation of Albania from the rest of Europe for more than 45 years. With the toppling of his bronze monument, in “Skënderbej” Square in the heart of Tirana, 6 years after his death, an era finally ended, which, according to Hoxha’s theory, was a permanent war against an external enemy.

Hoxha was not a man who left things half-hearted. He himself radically directed the policy that he built according to the Stalinist model. The state apparatus was completely in his hands, he set up a secret service, which under the name "State Security" instilled terror in the people. Just as King Zog once pursued the red opponents during the period between the two wars, Hoxha acted in the same way after the war against any anti-communist element.

The wave of his ideological persecutions reached absurd proportions. Finally, as a purist, he defended the view that he alone represented the pure teachings of communism and thereby separated himself from the orthodox communists of the League. He had no regard for the CSCE and human rights institutions.

Hoxha also made a name for himself as a writer. His literary output was poured into more than 70 books, not to mention the literature about him. The Communist Party keeps his memory high throughout the country in giant Hollywood-style letters. “Glory to Enver”, on mountain slopes or with banners placed on tall buildings…! Finally, the most expensive building in the country is dedicated to him, the beautiful futuristic Enver Hoxha Museum, which was built at a cost of up to 3 billion shillings! / Memorie.al