Student protests at the University of Pristina started in March 1981, when students demonstrated for better food and dormitory space. These protests soon spread throughout Kosovo, and by April 1981 they had expanded to include the demands of Kosovo Albanians for more autonomy within the Yugoslav federation. The Yugoslavian government saw these protests as a serious threat, and declared that they would "suppress them by all available means". On 2 April 1981, a state of emergency was declared in Pristina, and the government sent 30,000 troops into the province to quell the protests.