National Youth Day in Albania is a public holiday, celebrated on December 8, designed to commemorate student demonstrations that occurred in 1990.
The fall of communism in Albanian began in December 1990 with student protests in the capital city of Tirana.
Students of the University of Tirana (then Enver Hoxha University) marched through the streets, demanding political and social reforms.
By December 11, the number of protesters had reached almost 3,000.
In order to quell the unrest, Alia met with the students and promised to take further steps toward democratization.
In 2010, the anniversary of the first demonstration was declared National Youth Day to recognize the contribution of Albanian youth to the fall of communism.
