The council of Himara completed the demolition of the Orthodox church of St. Athanasius in the village of Drymades under the cover of the night. Around 4 am in the morning the police arrived at the remains of the church and ordered the excavators and bulldozers to finish the job.

Some villagers, awoken by the heavy machinery in the middle of the night, rushed to the scene and tried to prevent the tearing down of the edifice, but failed. Despondent faithful woke up in the morning to a sight of rabble were their church once stood. Some started to gather icons and other church artifacts from the pile.