Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Tirana, the Albanian capital, for a fourth consecutive day to protest against two luxury tourism projects linked to the family of United States President Donald Trump.
The developments, on Albania’s Adriatic coast, are backed by Affinity Partners, the investment firm of Jared Kushner, who is Trump’s son-in-law and the husband of Ivanka Trump.
One project would transform Sazan, an uninhabited island that once served as a secret communist-era military base, into a high-end resort estimated to be worth €1.4 billion. A second is planned for the protected Vjosa-Narta coastal area near the village of Zvernec, in southern Albania, home to flamingos, monk seals and nesting sea turtles.
Marching from Skanderbeg Square to the office of Prime Minister Edi Rama, demonstrators waved Albanian flags and large cardboard flamingos and chanted “Cancel the project”, holding banners reading “Albania is not for sale” and “Ivanka, go home”. Politico reported that the demonstrations have been dubbed the country’s “flamingo revolution”.
Critics have argued the projects threaten one of Europe’s most important coastal ecosystems and have raised concerns over transparency and possible corruption. On June 2, Albania’s Special Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office (SPAK) said it had opened an investigation into the funds used to acquire the land titles and their sale to investors.
Rama’s administration backed the projects after parliament approved changes in February 2024 to legislation on protected natural areas, opening the way for large-scale construction in zones that had previously been off-limits.
Tensions rose after private security guards clashed with and injured several people protesting against the fencing-off of a beach at Zvernec. Authorities later suspended several police officers and revoked the licences of two private security firms.
Rama, whose government granted Affinity Partners strategic investor status in 2024, has defended the plans as a major economic opportunity and rejected suggestions that Trump was involved in the approval process. The developers said the projects would be carried out responsibly and would create jobs.
