Late Albanian dictator’s widow calls govt plan ‘fascist’

TIRANA, Albania – The widow of the late Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha has described a government decision to tear down her apartment building for a road as “fascist.”

Dita daily newspaper quoted 97-year-old Nexhmije Hoxha on Monday saying occupants were told to vacate the building within days. Dita says Hoxha called the order “a typical fascist act.”

The government is planning to pull down 317 buildings to make room for expanding the road that circles Tirana. Local residents temporarily blocked the road on Sunday to protest.

Enver Hoxha governed Albania with an iron fist from 1944 until his death in 1985, five years before a student revolt overthrew the isolationist communist regime.

His widow and other relatives of former top communist leaders have been moved to Tirana outskirts.