Skip to content
UÇKHistory and Memory

20–28 February 1989 · 1981–1989

The Trepça miners' hunger strike

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.
Evidence status: Documented. Supported by contemporaneous documents, institutional reports or independent studies that corroborate one another.Before the warPeaceful resistance

Editorial status: Awaiting verificationDrafted from the cited sources; not yet fully reviewed by the editors.

Key facts

Date
20–28 February 1989
Place
Stantërg — the Trepça mines
Coordinates
Exact location
Sources
5
Evidence status
Evidence status: Documented. Supported by contemporaneous documents, institutional reports or independent studies that corroborate one another.

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.

Sources

  1. [1]Oral History Kosovo. Miners' Strike 1989. https://oralhistorykosovo.org/research/miners-strike-1989/. Accessed 2026-09-16.
  2. [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. [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. [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. [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.

Last reviewed:

Report an inaccuracy