STUDENT DEMONSTRATIONS OF 1981 AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE UNIVERSITY OF PRISHTINA

Under the pretext of difficult living and studying conditions a demonstration of Albanian students at the University of Prishtina broke out in March 1981. Within a short time, social demands were transformed into political claims forthe Republic of Kosovo within the Yugoslav federation. These claims met a strong backlash by Serbian and Yugoslav communist circles, while the Kosovar political class was divided over the issue. Considering these claims as "directed against the system, the state and the people", Serbian political circles seized the opportunity to attack the Albanian political and intellectual class with the ultimate aim of destroying the University of Prishtina, which they regarded as "the cradle of Albanian nationalism and separatism”. Therefore, this paper claims to elaborate the course of events, the attitude of the political circles of the time and the measures they took in the fight against Kosovo Albanian intelligentsia, or to reflect the consequences or results of such claims.