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UÇKHistory and Memory

17 November 1988 · 1981–1989

The Trepça miners' march

On 17 November 1988 Trepça miners marched towards Prishtina against the forced resignation of leaders Kaqusha Jashari and Azem Vllasi and against the planned constitutional changes. This began several days of mass peaceful protest.
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
17 November 1988
Place
Stantërg — the Trepça mines, Prishtina
Coordinates
Exact location
Sources
3
Evidence status
Evidence status: Documented. Supported by contemporaneous documents, institutional reports or independent studies that corroborate one another.

UPI reported about 20,000 protesters marching through Prishtina on 17 November (an official media estimate) [1]; according to Ramet, some 100,000 Albanians marched in Prishtina on 18 November [2]. The sources read do not confirm the number of miners who marched or the length of the march.

Sources

  1. [1]Albanians march in support of their leaders. United Press International (UPI), 1988-11-17. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/11/17/Albanians-march-in-support-of-their-leaders/9569595746000/. Accessed 2026-09-16.
  2. [2]Sabrina P. Ramet. Nationalism and Federalism in Yugoslavia, 1962–1991. Indiana University Press, 1992. https://publish.iupress.indiana.edu/read/nationalism-and-federalism-in-yugoslavia-1962-1991/section/120b9dc9-8aaa-4af4-a31b-cac893f71b6a. Accessed 2026-09-16.
  3. [3]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.

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