Liberation Day (Albania)

The parade usually consisted of active servicemen and veterans of the UPS, schoolchildren from the local Tirana school district, the men and women of the Voluntary Forces of Popular Self-Defense, the Republican Guard Regiment and UPSh personnel from the Directorate of State Security (Sigurimi), marching with musical accompaniment from the Band of the Albanian People's Army.

A wreath laying ceremony takes place in the National Martyrs' Cemetery of Albania, where 900 war dead are buried.

[8][9] In 2014, a military parade took place at the Ministry of Defense during the platinum jubilee of the Liberation of Albania, which included an exhibition drill and a mass inspection.

[10] During the celebrations, war veterans often march in processions or sit at ceremonies while either carrying portraits of former Communist dictator Enver Hoxha or performing the Hoxhaist Salute.

[11] At the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Tirana in 2014, Prime Minister Edi Rama ordered that veterans carrying Hoxha's portrait be asked to leave, and the US Ambassador later stated that the display had "stained" the ceremony and "offended the people of Albania".