Part Two
Anita Susuri: Then you continued your further education in Pristina I believe…
Teuta Hadri: Yes.
Anita Susuri: How was the move from Gjakova to Pristina? I mean, settling here in this city that was a bit different from Gjakova, a somewhat broader environment.
Teuta Hadri: It was fortunate because I had my brother and sister here as students. My sister in sociology, they had already come here and I was familiar with Pristina, how they worked, how they studied. And I was the child in the family with all doors open, my family never hindered me in anything, whether with friends or other matters. My father had great trust and, you know, [confidence] in me. And that support from my father was the strength that he gave me.
When I came to Pristina, it was… Gjakova was a city with different cultures, Pristina had different cultures… I came into contact with girls who were closed off, with girls who had come to study but didn’t leave the dormitory. They only had the faculty and the dormitory. I had a freer life. Then I had a broadening of horizons, I was interested in those families, because the dormitory gathered children of patriots from all regions of Kosovo… and I expanded my knowledge. I got to know Xhevë Lladrovci, we met as students and we had read Shota Galica at that time.
Xhevë Lladrovci’s father also took her to that cave, the bones of Azem… who was in Dragobi there, where was it? The cave and graves where Azem Bejta was killed. They moved him to avoid falling into Serbian hands, Shote Galica’s group and her fighters decided to place him in the cave, based on the order to hide him in the cave so that the enemy would not find him. Even after Azem’s death, the soldiers of Shota’s group shouted, “Wait for Azem Galica,” but Azem was actually dead and thrown… and the authorities did everything they could to capture his bones to claim that they had killed Azem.
They kept it, the fighters hid it, because it kept the morale among the people. And now I had an ideal. Xhevë Lladrovci’s father took it upon himself, he was a sportsman, a person whom no one could dive with for years to retrieve the bones, he went in. I became connected with Xhevë. I had contact with Xhevë’s father, I talked, I had read the book about how he retrieved them… and contacts started to open. Xhevë with a patriotic family from Drenica, Shtime, Lipjan, the Berisha families, all of these we had in our hands. We started because we were interested, there was an interest to know the Albanian families. Who are they? Who is fighting? Who has children in prison? All of this.
My friends used to go out and have fun, go on korzo, attend matinees [gatherings]. For me, this was my orientation. And we would come into contact there, form groups. During our studies, we had professors from Albania who taught us pharmacology, histology, we had pathology, Gojart Cerga, whose arrival in Kosovo and lectures were at a very high level. They were international professors who also taught in Spain, not just here, as per the agreements.
Sejdi Marjaka was the Minister of Education and Culture in Kosovo, he made an agreement with Selami Pulaha, and also with Tefta Cami, the Ministers of Culture of Albania, to bring literature. Then literature, films, and state ensembles began to come to Kosovo. Ema Qazimi, Luan, athletes, basketball players, volleyball players, Ela Tasa, they all came to Kosovo, in groups. And our goal, I wasn’t very active, but it was the goal of mine and my friends, Teuta Bekteshi, Remzije Limani, to gather as many students as possible to welcome them. To show them that we have the motherland, we have Kosovo, we are people of one besa, one blood, one origin, and we connected with them.
However, the authorities were pursuing us, arresting us, and they had also arrested our friends, “Why do you accompany the professors from Albania in the city? Why do you accompany them? Attend the lessons, don’t accompany them.” They had taken some of our friends. They took Mejrem and others for questioning, and we accompanied them on purpose, to challenge the authorities. “They’re ours.” Like in the movie from 1988, when they accompanied Tefta Tashko and arrested them, the same with us, some were arrested and released, what for? For accompanying a singer like Gaço Çako,Ema Qazimi, and others. We organized these activities with friends from the faculty, we accompanied professors. All the ensembles that came, we went out, we accompanied them.
However, it was interesting in ‘75, with over five hundred people, it was like a protest, Sabri Fejzullahu was also there, and we were all gathered to accompany the Albanian Television Dance Ensemble. And all those who were there, violinists, bubnjara [Srb.: drummers], everyone in Kosovo, we would accompany them and welcome them with flowers. I remember that the flowers were taken from there and sent to Enver Hoxha at the congress. He received the flowers from Kosovo, the carnations. Five hundred people came out from that gathering, which was also a kind of protest. The media called it governmental.
It was a kind of small, silent protest there because we were accompanying our brothers from Albania, the singers. When Zdravko Čolić came, what propaganda, posters everywhere… “Zdravko is coming, Kićo Slabinac is coming, this one is coming, that one…” they made a big deal… why not for our ours? So, we organized to make their reception grand and as well-known as possible. The sports halls were filled. The morale was very high, the whole hall standing to sing Albanian songs. That’s it. Later during our studies, organizing these events, connecting with friends, Arsim Braha, we saw Ramë Sadikaj, we were doctors, as a group of doctors, Ramadan Sopi, Hidajet Paçarizi, Zyp Baja, Binazi. We were a large group connected with each other.
We organized it, I can say it went quietly, Sali Krasniqi, the surgeon, also to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the 1968 demonstrations. How to celebrate that? There was a problem. We made a kind of disguise because few people knew about it, three or four people. Teuta Bekteshi, Hasan Beketshi was imprisoned for this demonstration. We organized that we don’t want professors from Serbia to come to us, but we want them from Albania as they were bringing them to us. To have biochemistry come to us, why should we… the faculty, the university is in Albanian and they taught us the subject in Serbian? Professors from Belgrade came to teach us biochemistry. There was Rakić, I can’t remember his first name. And to remove Rakić.
We did it, 500 medical students came out of the Faculty of Medicine organized in a line up to the rectorate. At the rectorate, three or four people were assigned to speak. Teuta Bekteshi spoke, she was also a member and later became a member of the cell that we organized later. From these organizations, we moved on to deeper underground political organizations. Teuta gave the speech, Hasan Bekteshi and another student also spoke. Hasan was sentenced. From there, he was followed, and after a few days, they took him. He was from Kičevo, and he was sentenced.
However, this participation of 500 students, the group, the second-year, third-year, and even the graduating students joined us because they were giving direction since it was the tenth anniversary of the ‘68 demonstrations. It was a kind of celebration, they were giving it direction. There, the Albanian politicians, Mahmut Bakalli and others… because they wanted to channel it, to arrest more people who were in this group. He gave it direction and said, “The medical students came out in the media, no one can touch them. They are the best students, the cream of our intellectual society.” And they removed Professor Rakić and brought in Avdyl, who was an assistant in biochemistry.
So, it was the first silent protest. The authorities knew that behind this there was a prepared organization, they didn’t… they perhaps followed some other figures, someone, Arsim Braha from Prizren was later sentenced. So it was the tenth anniversary.
Anita Susuri: And that day, was there any police? Was there any organization?
Teuta Hadri: Yes, there were, but there were more plainclothes [police]. Here and there, three or four policemen at the [Hotel] Grand. They didn’t surround us, didn’t provoke us, because members of the Kosovo Assembly, like Fadil and Mahmut and all those Gjakova leaders, were present. There was greater participation, and there were others who didn’t give direction, wanting to neutralize it, and they succeeded in neutralizing it. Otherwise, it would have taken on a greater dimension, leading to more arrests. That group of ten to fifteen [people] who organized these things would have been arrested and…
They didn’t make much [fuss]… later, I don’t know, back there, just until the rectorate, two, three policemen, four policemen were there… they sent their representatives to the rectorate. They spoke, there was one Sali Maqedonsi, there were some others like that. They didn’t let the big political figures come, “What do you want?” The demands, “Remove the professor.” In fact, we celebrated there. But who is a patriot, who wants to… there, those figures already started to emerge. We knew the families, but who wants to sacrifice? Our friends who were more dedicated, more for a future sacrifice, started to step forward.
Anita Susuri: ‘70…
Teuta Hadri: Before ‘81, in ‘78. This was in November. November ‘78, November 28, 1978.
Anita Susuri: Then did you also become part of the Ilegalja?
Teuta Hadri: Yes, we also became part of the Ilegalja. In 1978, we joined underground groups. We started… we saw that there was a force emerging in Kosovo, a force that had been building for years, decades, a patriotic force that was ready to be the first to raise that flag or call to action. And we just joined with Teuta Bekteshi, a medical student. With this whole group, we had our friends, friends with whom we distributed literature, we had trust, we gave them literature. Because it was being prepared for a larger popular revolt, for a demonstration later, as it happened in ‘81.
Maybe a bit ahead of time, it was thought to be a bit later, but the student youth, the momentum, the preparation of underground groups, the spreading, the opening, our agitation. We also had our agitation. Just as the authorities did, we did it against them. But we did it in disguise, because if they discovered you, they’d catch you trrak {onomatopoeia} and throw you in jail for years on end. And this was in ‘78, a moral [stance] before ‘81 that with this people, you have to work, you have to act, but you also have to sacrifice.
The greatest pain for me hasn’t been my own life, the interruption of my studies. That might have broken me spiritually if I had been arrested as a student, there was a… and… but I overcame it because we were prepared politically, ideologically, physically. We had training, the members of the underground groups had all this preparation. Then, we had, what is called training now, back then we called it education. For example, I couldn’t wear jeans at that time. Why? It was our inspiration to be, in every aspect, a member of our cell, of the organization, embodying all human traits. Our women comrades, for instance, didn’t have the right to keep long nails, or to do colorful hairstyles. They were people with characteristics, following the protocols of the organization.
We… we fought against negative traits, like smoking, we had friends who secretly smoked cigarettes. We tried to combat, to eliminate these habits, so that when you joined us… we were preparing the generation. You visit a villager, hold a meeting, and if someone said, “This girl… she smokes.” We even had such cases, “You trust her? She doesn’t stop smoking, don’t trust her.” We were creating the new person, the person for future organization, the person for a revolution, we called it shortly.
Anita Susuri: Where did you hold the meetings, for example, where did you gather?
Teuta Hadri: In 1978, we made an oath and formed the group. Not me, it was Hasan Mala, a member, who was the head of the group, Hasan Mala led us. Remzije Limani, Teuta, and I formed a four-member cell. From this four-member cell, we formed trios. And each member formed their own trio cells. It spread like the branches of a tree. Our goal was to spread our spirit, our ideals, our struggle throughout all of Kosovo. We reached many cities. We covered Gjakova well. Gjakova was, but none were punished. Because when I was punished, I didn’t expose any of them. We also had a couple of groups in Peja, more in Gjilan, two groups in Drenica, Xhevë and some girls from Malisheva had their own cells. But we members were prepared with literature, ideological development, and physical [training].
However, to join the cell, you couldn’t join without taking the oath and completing an action. You had to write a slogan, distribute a tract, or spread literature. And when you did these things, you gained my trust because you could have exposed me. And there we trained them, overcame their fear, and we were successful. Because if they had arrested us, they would have… later, they did arrest us. We created a strong person [of ourselves] who, even if I went to prison, would continue, and we did continue. For example, when Arsim Braha was imprisoned at that time, Teuta Bekteshi continued, and so did we. When Teuta was imprisoned, I continued. When Naim was imprisoned, others continued, you see, they left trustworthy people.
We created our fund through the student cell. We contributed money every month. We supplied the group with ink and paint. We managed to buy a machine and, in ‘81, we wrote tracts for March 8 that the authorities never discovered who wrote them. When they arrested our friends, we wrote tracts stating that the movement continues. You could see in the writing that it was at a level… but it was clear that the new groups were continuing. We were all committed to a purpose. Before making [our commitment] there, we swore in the name of the flag, Skanderbeg, and the figures that gave us political morale, whether the Party of Albania or here, we swore an oath. We took an oath to commit to the freedom of Kosovo until the end, regardless… and betrayal was punishable. Only then was the member accepted.
We operated from ‘78, I was active. For six years, I was not discovered. My friends were discovered before me, but I wasn’t discovered with the other groups. In ‘84, I was discovered because we were expanding, the more we recruited members, the more you opened branches, you were the person who did this and that. Someone from Gjakova told me, “No, stop, that’s not how you’re describing the people of Gjakova.” They fought, but there was also an element. “She’s a patriot, she’s like this… she [participated] in the demonstration…” You know, you would get exposed.
We distributed with our group, with our cell, the tracts, we distributed tracts in Gjakova, we distributed the magazine Liria. That was, the magazine Liria was the magazine of our organization OLMPSH, and that magazine was distributed up to 25 [copies] at a time, even 30 copies at a time. It circulated in Kosovo, and people got caught distributing it. The Titist work was also seized, it was “Titoism” published in Albania that came through underground routes. We had connections, with trucks (laughs), if you want to know. Trucks would come bringing iron, cement. We formed those connections bit by bit. And they would come and bring us literature, leave with the trucks and drop it off in places, whether in Gjakova or elsewhere…
Anita Susuri: So, it spread like branches…
Teuta Hadri: Like branches, yes, yes, yes.
Anita Susuri: From…
Teuta Hadri: And from Albania, they knew the place here where they would stop the truck and pretend to fix the tire, and they would give us the books. They would bring two or three books, literature. That was how it was done.
Anita Susuri: Was it…
Teuta Hadri: And later on, when we joined the organization, our main source was the organization in Geneva. Hasan Mala was the main inspirer of the group, our member, because he had a direct connection with the center, and all the literature that was released, the latest book was The Anglo-Americans, which hadn’t been distributed in Albania yet, was brought to us here. So, there was a distribution from the organization, from the activist Nuhi Berisha, Hasan, they were the people who supplied us with suitcases. Other friends who were members, whom we didn’t know, were involved as well.
Not a week went by without speaking to Hasan Mala, where we didn’t gather to know even those who worked on the side, who had their own members. I didn’t know them, he didn’t know my members, only by pseudonyms. Because if you fall [into prison], you could expose Teuta, I was tortured and didn’t expose anyone because we were using pseudonyms. Even if you were caught talking on the street, to make a slogan, to write it there… we were using pseudonyms. Ganimete, Lule, and I was caught with the pseudonym Lule.
If the occupier heard my name “Lule, Lule” when we escaped… we wrote a slogan here with Teuta Bekteshi at the Dormitories between III and II, starting from there, Bregu i Diellit, slogans until where it ended, we would come out with paint, about a meter of paint, and the police came and stepped on it. While we were finishing the slogan “Kosovo Republic,” they came and stepped on it and saw. After they stepped on it, they remembered they stepped on a slogan. Then, “Lule, run because they caught us.” And someone said, “I heard the name Lule,” not Teuta, you understand? We had all those forms of our organizational activity until the end for freedom. As I said, without taking the oath, you were not accepted into the cell. Then, we members of the cell rarely included the children of people in power. Although, they later joined us, even their children.
This was the fight that extended our branches even within the authorities. There were children of people whose fathers worked in State Security, who wrote slogans, and their children distributed them. And we were later punished with that group of theirs, but they were treated more leniently later because they weren’t with the organization like us, with an oath. We selected patriotic families. We chose the Vokshi family, the Malaj families, the nephews of the Malajs, and sons-in-law. All these families who had connections. And there could have been agents among them. However, we selected those who wanted to contribute. In our group, in our cell, we had our own rules, our own protocols. And it was like a fight, [adhering to] that collected protocol.
In our cell, we organized ourselves in a way that included preparing with weapons, because we were writing slogans. Authorities might catch us, the police might catch us. You had to shoot, so if they shot at you, you could shoot back. Not to kill, but ultimately it was a fight. You didn’t know, either they would kill you, or… and we organized our members. We had a fund that we used to supply materials for writing slogans. We had meetings, gatherings. We held meetings every three weeks. There was discipline there too, at specific times, “If I don’t show up at 7:00, know that I’ve been arrested.” There was no excuse like mother, sick father, uncle died, aunt, or cousin. We were strict about the schedules because it could cost the life of a friend.
As our leaders now, Hasan and the others, used to say, “You must respect the time because it costs lives, friend. The enemy is spying on you.” We had a reserve of ten minutes, or we would go out and check the terrain beforehand to ensure we weren’t surrounded, [in case] someone betrayed a member or if you didn’t show up within the designated time, they would take another route and come back to survey the area again. Sometimes, due to suspicion that someone was following us, it took us longer because we changed routes. And there were rules there, every member followed these rules, every… including myself. Some friends were imprisoned, because they were caught during activities, maybe they were less organized, or it was just fate. I can’t say it was because they were new members that they got caught.
They caught us, they imprisoned our friends. Teuta Bekteshi was imprisoned during an activity. She was once imprisoned with Arsim Braha, they spent 40 days in prison, and they were tortured. They were caught with the magazine Liria which we had distributed to someone, and they asked, “Where did you get it from?” This led to Teuta. They were arrested and spent 40 days in prison. They found the magazine in the dormitory. We were prepared to endure torture. We relied on a spot in the dormitory, and they released them because the magazine was found there. I said, “Who found it in the dormitory? Who distributed it?” And they were arrested. It was very painful to see a friend get arrested. We expected to be arrested too, but she endured, got out of prison, and waited for the 40 days. We continued our activities in distributing the magazine. “It’s not Teuta, but other members who are distributing the magazine, it’s not her.”
And so we acted until the conditions for the demonstrations of ‘81 were ripe. Teuta’s imprisonment was both a loss and a pain for us, as our activities were somewhat hindered, stopping for about two to three weeks, a month of careful movement to avoid surveillance… but when she was released from prison, we continued again. Despite the torture, she didn’t break and continued her activities once more. We continuously worked on ideological upliftment, as we called it, raising the awareness of the masses for resistance against Yugoslavia. We fought with literature and similar means, leading up to a major protest, as the events of 1981 unfolded.
Anita Susuri: How did the organization come about and how did the breakout occur on that day, I mean…
Teuta Hadri: You are the young generation, it’s difficult, only the authorities know, just a word spread that there was tension and something was about to break out, it was planned for March 7 that a group would initiate it, but it didn’t happen because we didn’t gather. Not that there was betrayal, but the organization on March 7, the Teacher’s Day, didn’t materialize as we were waiting for the party leaders to come and lead us. We would start, then they would come. But that didn’t happen. One of them backed out, saying there were doubts, no doubts, someone was going to be arrested… so March 7 passed with tension.
We, the activist girls, Xhevë Lladrovci, Lumnije Musa from Gjakova, Lumnije was a friend of Xhevë, had a cell, but not with an oath. Xhevë did not take the oath in front of the members. And Xhevë didn’t know that I was involved, she knew I had connections with Lumnije, but not that I was actively involved. And Lumnije received directives from the base, from our group, and I did from elsewhere, and we started writing slogans. We organized in the dormitory with lipstick… to incite the students. We didn’t know what they were, what they could contribute to an organization, to a later explosion of demonstrations. Lumnije organized with me in Dormitory II, Remzije Limani with her fellow members who accepted to break and take the oath in Dormitory I, and Xhevë went to Dormitory II and wrote slogans.
And we wrote slogans there inspired by the past, such as “Long live the Party of Albania,” those were the ones. They didn’t arrest us. The focus was on the boys, the aim was towards the boys, not them. Then the tensions arose, “They’re arresting, they’re not arresting.” These were the circumstances. Later, you couldn’t say, “I’m organizing,” not even your brother could know, nor your family, nor your father, because you could get arrested, and we had prepared for that. Due to the pain, my father would say, “Teuta Bekteshi took it upon herself,” or, in Teuta’s case, “Teuta Hadri took it upon herself,” do you understand? We protected our families too, even though we had prepared our members. However, in critical moments, the pain would come, and you would deconspire. We called it deconspiration.
We maintained deconspiration. So much work was done among the people during the demonstrations that even we didn’t know the groups with our own dissemination of information… and it was prepared, and the authorities knew two or three days in advance that something was going to break out, there was tension. It was about to break out with its own agents, but they didn’t succeed. At the moment, there was a spark ready to ignite, to incite and trigger a massive [demonstration]. However, the organizer could never reveal themselves, as it was an organization with significant political weight, with great political responsibility to take on. When March 11 broke out, at 7:15, it broke out in the dormitory, in the student canteen.
The student canteen was filled with members of the cells. We knew them, but we wouldn’t say that we knew they were a member, do you understand? We knew that there was a connection, a piece of literature. For example, Remzije Limani would tell me, “Shemsi Syla is reading, he’s a member but with another group,” or, “Avdullah Tahiri is one of our members,” since Remzije was from Gjilan. We knew them, but we also didn’t want to reveal ourselves, so that he could continue his activities without risking exposing me if he got arrested. Each had their own branches. And it was filled.
There was, when it broke out, Bahrie, a friend, and roommate of Xhevë Lladrovci. There, in Xhevë’s room, the one who was about to break out and… she threw this first plate, then we all just stayed there cheering, helping her. Avdullah Tahiri was there then. Avdullah jumped in, and that’s how it happened, the event of ‘81 in the student canteen. We, in the student canteen, used it, the Ilegalja movement with our members, we used it when such an event happened, sports.
Partizan Zvezda of Belgrade was playing, and the boys were eager to watch the sport. The girls and boys started pushing each other, one provoking at the entrance, the other at the beginning of the row, and we incited, we fell while pushing, we got up. The plate was thrown over there, we fell on this side in a column, pushing. The pushing was intentional incitement. There was a boy who pinched a girl there, you know, he pinched, and that created the atmosphere. And that atmosphere was created by that guy and it broke out. When it broke out, we were surrounded, the police forces came, even though the canteen had its own secret security agents secretly working in the dormitory. We were surrounded, encircled by UDB agents.
I knew them, I was the head of Dormitory II. I knew the figures who would come and make propaganda for the state. But it was April 1, they didn’t want to go out and take part in the April 1 action, the action of cleaning the dormitories, the yards, but they refused because it was organized under the flag of Serbia, Yugoslavia. The idea was to organize, we wanted to break that, April 1. In March, the demonstrations broke out. And they would come, we knew those who came to stimulate the youth to go out, to act. There are also some figures here who pose as analysts, some who supported the regime.
It broke out there, we were surrounded. I managed to escape from that crowd and go to the room to gather the girls from the room, the girls from the dormitories to tell them, “Run to join the students, run, the students are protesting.” There were some girls from Gjakova, Vjollca Hoxha with her friends who joined me. A beautiful girl who inspired that demonstration. When she entered with those jeans, with that body, with her friends, she joined. Groups of students began to gather when they heard our shout, the breaking of glass, they joined the line, that crowd. And we went out.
When I came, I gathered the girls from the dormitory to join the girls, the boys, everyone we knew, they came and joined. They went out to the canteen, the group that stayed there, Avdullah and Bahrie went out in front of the canteen. We joined them there. Our joining gave them morale as well. But meanwhile, as we were gathering, we were surrounded by the police forces, with… the police started to come, they started sending cars, as the number of students grew, citizens were joining us from the canteen and the road was blocked.
They didn’t want the number to grow, they wanted to disperse us, they circulated the road with cars, with Fiqe ‘91, that’s how we called the Yugoslav Zastava cars, to break that line. Then they started sending buses, their own people, people they had as agents. They had their own people in the Kosova Trans buses, sending them, not to run us over but to pressure us with the buses, one after another, first one bus, then two, three. We didn’t let them through. When we started overturning the cars, all the students rose up to knock them down and the road started to get blocked.
Then, floods of people gathered, they gathered from the apartments. They joined us, we stayed there, I can say for about 45 minutes to an hour, singing. At first, the conditions were social, and there they were purposeful, “We want food, we want food, food, better conditions.” Even if they arrested us, arrested me, we were at the center there, “I wanted conditions, I wanted food, I wanted…” When we came from the dormitory, a large crowd formed, we were convinced, they were convinced that the masses joined a lot. A crowd of 500 people formed. Someone gave a word, gave an order, “Quickly, let’s go to the assembly,” from the friends there. The crowd broke out and went towards the assembly.
The agents had surrounded us. They had also called our professors, educators, around the line. They barely got the students to give information on who, how it happened? Who was organizing it? We had all these words. And when a professor, there was a Muhamet Bica, and someone else who accompanied the line and, “Be careful, be careful!” They gave us the word because our friend had family ties. “Be careful, you are being followed. They forced us professors to come out and accompany you. Don’t take us…” because we told them, “Whoever doesn’t join is a traitor,” to the professors (laughs). They felt bad about themselves.
And they called Rama, a friend of ours, Rama, and told him, “This and that, we were forced by the authorities to accompany the students. We are not part of the government nor part of those officials.” And we reached the Assembly of Kosovo where it is today. There we… up to that point we were with slogans “We want conditions, we want food, we want conditions.” We hoped that this was the interest of all of Kosovo, not just the students, that someone from the higher-ups we had connections with in the government would come out. They suspected that the organization had connections even in the government. There was this belief that someone would come out, Mahmut Bakalli, or someone to lead us, the students, and say, “Here you go, continue.”
It was hard to get started, you continue. They didn’t join us. “Join us, join us,” then we started, “Whoever doesn’t join is a traitor,” “Down with treason,” “Kosovo remains ours.” They didn’t join us. We came and continued to the municipality and there we shouted slogans. Surrounded on all sides, we were with police forces, with… dressed, prepared security.
Anita Susuri: Were there, I think it was the politicians who demanded the protest be quashed…
Teuta Hadri: Yes, they didn’t join us. We were calling for Fadil Hoxha, “Come out, Fadil,” by name, “come out.” They were standing there at the windows. You know, they didn’t stick their heads out, but we knew. Because Fadil Hoxha was in Belgrade that day and quickly returned by plane. He came, and it was heard in the crowd because we were getting information from people in power who had connections with uncles, aunts. And they would come into the crowd, “What are you doing?” And Fadil Hoxha came, we got the special news that Fadil had come from Belgrade to stop them. And we hoped he would come out, but he didn’t come out, he didn’t come out. Then, we were disappointed. After two hours, we returned again, disappointed, still hoping that someone would come out and lead this. We thought of government officials, those whom we were thinking of.
And we came back to the dormitory, to the student canteen. To speak, who would speak? We got up, there were many medical students there, and Deliha Gjocaj was the first to rise. But, he was seeking the people in power. Come on now, they didn’t join, he was seeking Pajazit Nushi, “I demand…” We told him, “Stay, you’re not the one to speak,” we removed him, and we had Ali Lajçi nearby. Ali Lajçi came from a patriotic family with that emblem like Abdyl Frashëri,and I was convinced that he was also one of… because there was an underground organization, a friend who said so, but I didn’t know he was leading it, but he knew how to speak and he spoke there.
When we saw in the crowd that he expressed himself well, we grabbed him, “Get up, you!” “No, I’m not prepared,” “You know how to speak very well.” And we took him to an electrical substation, lifted him up as if on a stage. Ali spoke, gave a speech. He added a bit of fire to the demonstrations… we were looking for leaders, but Pajazit didn’t come, not even then. Only after the police forces broke out, started dispersing us, but we didn’t disperse. Then they threw tear gas at us, we bled, a friend from medical school was injured. Now he is, Ukshin Ismaili, works, is the director at the Regional Hospital of Gjilan. Ukshin was injured, many of our friends were injured, but he was the most seriously injured and had to go to the hospital.
We treated some of the wounds since we were medical students and managed to break through towards Bregu i Diellit [neighborhood] and arrived, they gathered. The students gathered, then we dispersed. All the agents came to observe, they burned the Torch of Freedom until 5:00, those who wanted to sing stayed… we, the movement members who were part of the underground, just dispersed, it was not our turn now… the process was over, we watched from the dormitories to see how it was going, who was being arrested. They didn’t bother anyone all night.
The next morning, they started suspecting people in the dormitories, I heard them because I was in the crowd there, planning to arrest and act… but they did it in the most secretive way, they didn’t manage to find out the names of those they wanted to arrest. I knew I could be part of that group too, but it was fortunate that I didn’t stay at the Torch of Freedom, because if I had stayed there, I might have been one of them. But we had dispersed, it was by chance. This dispersed. There, Gani Koci and others gathered and sang. And the group around the torch that was surrounded, they sat like at a feast there, the fire, and they were being followed on all sides. Because I knew the agents, I recognized who was following, who.
The next day, they started with suspicions, gathering information about who the person was, who. They prepared to arrest Ali Lajçi for three or four days, but Ali was cautious, his friends protected him. They didn’t let him fall into their hands. Even people from [State] Security came secretly, but the students set up barricades with beds, closed the doors, and didn’t let them [in] without resistance. They tried to enter by force, but not without resistance. They thought they would get him, get him and take him away. But they didn’t surrender him. Bajram Kosumi, Ali Lajçi, they later formed a group in Dormitory V. They were a group of some key protesters. They established points, points of what to say in front of the authorities and their demands.
They didn’t meet the demands and organized, “If they don’t meet our demands and just want to arrest us, there will be no arrests without the fulfillment of conditions.” The students gathered together in the dormitory, not letting anyone in. Then we broke out on March 26. March 26 was more organized, on a larger scale, but we got used to the 11th [of March], we got used to fireworks, tear gas, and whatever else they threw at us. We got used to violence, to palica [Srb.: batons], they had hit us with palica on the 11th but we didn’t feel anything. The crowd caught us while running and falling… and Bajram Kosumi gave a speech on the 26th, some students also spoke, reading out some points. That’s when Sanije Hyseni, Nuhi Bashota, and Azem Vllasi came, they were the most political Albanian figures, gathered to calm and disperse the students.
Their biggest concern was that it was Tito’s relay race. Our goal was to stop the relay, to prevent it from entering Kosovo. This was the biggest crisis that both they and we knew about. And they didn’t meet our demands, because if they had, perhaps it would have been suppressed. Maybe, I believe, although the masses were electrified. And they didn’t meet the demands, a huge revolt broke out there, and that revolt aimed to go towards Ulpiana [neighborhood] to intercept the relay. But they had us… we didn’t know we were surrounded. All around the dormitories, along this road to Ulpiana, the market, around the circle, the fountain, we were surrounded by cars, police cars, military vehicles, with police, special forces from all the republics. Gathered from Macedonia, we could hear them speaking.
When we broke through that cordon, there were some barriers like round iron bars that divided the road. We jumped over them, and someone fell, trying to break through to the relay. That’s when the massive shooting from the police began, with guns, with… it broke out. We took the fireworks they threw at the crowd, they could kill you. And we took the fireworks, throwing them back at them. But we had injuries, fingers were cut off. Whoever didn’t manage to throw it back before exploding, their fingers were cut off. It was a face-to-face revolt with the police forces for the first time.
A student was carrying the red and black flag at the front, and when the student fell, Trëndelina Labërishti, who was also a political prisoner and had been imprisoned for three years in Macedonia, ran to help. She grabbed the flag from the student, because in that moment, you know, some people might think to grab the flag. Trëndelina grabbed the flag and said, “Brothers, don’t let the flag fall into the hands of the police,” and stood up. However, the police attacked Trëndelina, and she wrapped herself in the flag to avoid surrendering it. We grabbed and unfolded it, I didn’t know her at the time but later we became comrades. We removed the flag, and I took it, at that moment, I took the flag, but I couldn’t carry it because it was quite heavy, about five, six, or ten meters. It also had that wooden pole, which required strength to wave.
A guy came and said, “Give it to me, I’ll take it higher,” and a student took the flag. The police were chasing us, we didn’t want the flag to fall into [the police’s] hands, but to keep waving. We came from the dormitory to the sports hall. While climbing towards the sports hall, it was very emotional, adding fire to the moment when the police were shooting at us, the workers of Ramiz Sadiku were building dormitory V at that time and were finishing up. They had stopped, seeing all those workers, dozens of them. I told them, “What are you looking at, brothers, why aren’t you joining us? We’re fighting for you, for your rights. Do you see how the authorities are massacring our sisters?” They threw down their hammers, got emotional, left their work, and joined us. It was a feeling that never… truly the most magnificent, when the working class left and joined the students.
We went to the sports hall, gathering with the flag. They didn’t target us anymore, but were at the dormitories. They were ready to shoot when given orders, we stayed there until evening. In the evening, we got tired, and the process ended. We returned to our rooms. At the moment we returned to the rooms, the special forces started, the police dragged us out of the dormitories with the most brutal force. They were hitting the girls in the stomach, saying “Nećes da rodiš Albanca” [Srb.: You won’t give birth to an Albanian]. They were hitting them in the stomach. A beautiful couple, even today I don’t know… they grabbed the girl by the hair, I don’t know about the guy, they were hitting her and took them through the corridors, sending them to the police.
We don’t even know if they were alive, whether they were or not, we don’t know who they were… it was a huge disaster of violence against the students, both boys and girls. They dragged us out of the rooms and threw us out… I didn’t go down, I was in my room. They searched all the rooms. I had about seven male students hidden in my room and two girls from the neighboring room in my room. They came to my room, and when they got there, someone named Sahit, who knew I was active, said, “This is our head’s room, the head’s room, don’t break in, it’s the head’s room.”
We were dried up, seven guys in my room, if they caught you with them, they would take you as an organizer along with the whole group. The system would frame it. And they didn’t enter our room. They would hear even the slightest movement and break down the door. They broke down all the doors, but fortunately, they didn’t break ours and left. We went out, we didn’t stay, to see what was happening, the whole dormitory was silent. Violence, violence, then silence fell. All the rooms were broken into. I went out, we went out to see what was happening, a room with a balcony, we looked down slowly through the curtains. They were taking pictures, beating them, identifying people, and kept them for about two hours. After two hours, they released some, arrested some, and thus March 26 ended. We spent the whole night discussing who did what. We gathered together.
I left the dormitory because I expected they might arrest me and went to stay at my sister-in-law’s house. I stayed there, expecting every minute to hear my friends say, “They came looking for you.” I had friends who brought me information. I stayed there for three or four days, supposedly preparing for exams, and in fact, I did prepare for an easy exam and passed it, the best girl. March 26 ended, then came April 1, April 2.