Albanians protest for 12th night against Trump-linked resort project

For the 12th consecutive night, tens of thousands of Albanians have flooded the streets of Tirana and the country's southwestern coast in an escalating uprising against a $4.6 billion luxury resort project backed by US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and her son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

What began as local environmental alarm over protected wetlands has now swelled into a full-blown political crisis for Prime Minister Edi Rama, with demonstrators accusing his government of selling off Albania's natural heritage to Trump family interests in exchange for foreign investment.

Protesters — calling themselves the "Flamingo Revolution" — marched on government headquarters Thursday, carrying signs reading "Albania is not for sale" and demanding Rama's immediate resignation after nearly 13 years in power.

The project, which would transform the uninhabited Sazan Island and the protected Vjosa-Narta lagoon ecosystem into an ultra-luxury enclave of 10,000 hotel rooms, villas, and a yacht marina, has drawn global condemnation. Ivanka Trump herself described discovering the site while yachting with her husband.

"We were on a friend's boat and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that's how we found it," she said in a May 31 interview, adding that they "hiked barefoot" to the island's peak.

Critics have seized on the account as emblematic of Trump family entitlement. "Sazan is public land in Albania," environmental activist Besjana Guri told Anadolu Agency. "Why risk one of the last pristine deltas in the Mediterranean?"

The controversy erupted last month when developers erected barbed-wire fences around the Zvernec coastline — a protected nature reserve and critical habitat for flamingos, endangered monk seals, and sea turtle nesting sites — and deployed private security guards.

The fences have since been removed following public outrage, but environmental groups say construction that began in April has already caused "severe" and "irreversible" ecological damage.

Aleksander Trajce, director of Albania's oldest conservation organization PPNEA, described the project as "land grabbing and destruction of the ecosystem."

He noted that the Albanian government amended the Law on Protected Areas in 2024 — a move opponents say was designed to clear the path for Kushner's investment — and granted the developer "strategic investor" status without public consultation.

'Flamingo Revolution': Albanians rally to save wetlands from Trump-Kushner family $4bn luxury project

Hundreds of thousands of Albanians have taken to the streets in recent weeks against the Trump-Kushner family

For many protesters, the resort has become a lightning rod for decades of frustration with political corruption, mass emigration, and governance failures. More than 1.2 million Albanians have left the country since the fall of communism.

"People are fed up," university lecturer Ervin Goci told AFP. "Get rid of all this political class and start a new Albania."

The European Commission has formally warned Tirana that the development could jeopardize Albania's EU membership bid, demanding immediate compliance with environmental laws.

Albania's Special Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office has launched an investigation into irregularities surrounding land use rights.

Prime Minister Rama has dismissed protesters as "well-meaning but misinformed" and vowed to press forward. "I was voted in to make these things happen," he told Reuters.

But with daily marches showing no sign of retreat, the "Flamingo Revolution" has become the biggest challenge to his rule in years. Organizers have called for continued protests until the government cancels the deal — and resigns.

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