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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
Miners in helmets walk along rails in a dimly lit mine tunnel.
Miners in the tunnels of the Trepça mine, October 2012. The November 1988 march set out from this mine.Photo: FitimSelimi · 2012-10-27 · CC BY-SA 3.0

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.

Photographs

Four miners in white helmets and yellow boots sitting by the rock wall underground.
Miners during a break in the Trepça mine at Stari Trg near Mitrovica; photo by Fabio Walser, about 2011.Photo: Fabio Walser · 2011 · CC BY-SA 3.0

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.

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

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