- Date of the event
- Place
- Stantërg — the Trepça mines
- Evidence status
- Evidence status: Documented. Supported by contemporaneous documents, institutional reports or independent studies that corroborate one another.
From 20 to 28 February 1989 about 1,300 Albanian miners (sources give 1,200–1,350) barricaded themselves underground in the Stari Trg mine and went on hunger strike against the constitutional amendments and the leaders installed by Belgrade.
The strike lasted eight days [1] [2]. Afterwards the federal authorities imposed “special measures” in Kosovo and arrested political and business leaders [3] [4]. Figures for hospitalisations and the resignations announced on the last day appear only in secondary summaries and are not confirmed here.
Historical context
1981–1989
A decade that began with student protests and ended with the dismantling of autonomy: repression, rising nationalism and the mobilization of the miners and of Albanian society.
Read the chapter “From the 1981 demonstrations to the abolition of autonomy”Sources
- [1]Oral History Kosovo. Miners' Strike 1989. https://oralhistorykosovo.org/research/miners-strike-1989/. Accessed 2026-09-16.
- [2]Zyra e Kryeministrit të Kosovës. The 35th anniversary of the great strike of the miners of Trepca is marked. 2024-02-20. https://kryeministri.rks-gov.net/en/blog/the-35th-anniversary-of-the-great-strike-of-the-miners-of-trepca-is-marked/. Accessed 2026-09-16.
- [3]Fred Abrahams, Benjamin Ward. Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo. 2001-10-26. https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/. Accessed 2026-09-16.
- [4]Helsinki Watch (Human Rights Watch). Yugoslavia: Human Rights Abuses in Kosovo 1990–1992. 1992-10. https://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/y/yugoslav/yugo92o.pdf. Accessed 2026-09-16.
- [5]Underground History: BIRN's Reporting House Marks Kosovo Mine's Centenary. Balkan Insight (BIRN), 2025-06-18. https://balkaninsight.com/2025/06/18/underground-history-birns-reporting-house-marks-kosovo-mines-centenary/. Accessed 2026-09-16.