Albania Honors Topplers Of Dictator Hoxha`s Statue

Around 100,000 Albanians rallied in Tirana`s student dormitories district on Feb. 20, 1991 to support a hunger strike by students.

Albania honoured a dozen men and women on Friday who averted bloodshed 18 years ago by persuading a crowd to topple a statue of late Stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha rather than storm a heavily-guarded Communist compound.

Around 100,000 Albanians rallied in Tirana's student dormitories district on Feb. 20, 1991 to support a hunger strike by students demanding Hoxha's name be removed from their university.

Saimir Maloku, one of those honoured on Friday, said that after the rally broke up he and others steered a small crowd to the main square and away from the heavily guarded Politburo compound to avoid a clash that could have ended in violence.

"We called on the people 18 years ago to head to the square, not to the communist villa compound. We avoided bloodshed and managed to topple his statue," said Maloku.

He was jailed for eight years under Hoxha for producing a converter that helped Albanians, isolated from the outside world for more than four decades, watch forbidden foreign television.

Maloku, 62, was presented with the "Golden Eagle" award by President Bamir Topi in a ceremony on Friday attended by foreign ambassadors. The award is one of Albania's highest civilian honours. The others won the lesser "Torch of Democracy" award.

Hoxha died April 11, 1985, but it was not until December 1990 that Albania's Communist Party, which had ruled the Balkan state with an iron fist, accepted multi-party rule.

For many of his victims, Hoxha's eight-tonne bronze statue in Tirana's main square remained an eyesore. Its destruction marked the real end of communism for many Albanians.

At the time of the incident, police had used water cannon and dogs for hours to try to disperse the protesters. But when they eventually withdrew, a rope was thrown over the statue which was dragged down with the aid of a truck after several failed attempts.

"The people started crying 'Victory! We toppled the bastard'. Some cried," Maloku said.

The statue broke in two as it was being towed away, a bus load of miners helping the students haul the upper part to the student district, while the lower part was dragged around the streets of Tirana.