[1] The area, comprising approximately 5 square kilometres (2 sq mi)[citation needed] was a collective farm run by the state under communism.

They built permanent housing in the hope that this would make an eviction harder for the authorities.

[2] The authorities attempted to evict the settlement in 1995, but the squatters fought back and took the deputy prime minister Tritan Shehu hostage.

[2] Three years later, the 40,000 squatters were tired of waiting on government promises and announced they would march on the capital Tirana.

[3] Bathore has become a middle class suburb of Tirana, connected to all utilities.