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<\/a><\/p>\nPublished On 11 Jun 202611 Jun 2026<\/p>\n
Thousands of Albanians have taken to the streets of the country\u2019s capital, Tirana, in the \u2060largest protest yet against a luxury resort development backed by United States President Donald Trump\u2019s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.<\/p>\n
Protesters on Wednesday held signs that said \u201cAlbania is not for sale\u201d and chanted \u201cNew Albania\u201d outside Prime Minister Edi Rama\u2019s office as the crowd stretched half a mile down one of the city\u2019s main boulevards.<\/p>\n
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The project, expected to cost about 5 \u2060billion euros ($5.8bn), has provoked outrage in the Balkan country because of its location near a protected wetland home to flamingos, seals and sea turtle nesting sites.<\/p>\n
Critics have also raised concerns about a lack of transparency surrounding the plans designed by foreign investors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the prime example of what has been happening in Albania for the last 35 years,\u201d protester Leand Lakrori told the Reuters news agency. \u201cSo today, enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Protestors](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/afp_6a2a20311d55-1781145649.jpg\")
Protesters hold inflatable flamingos as part of a \u2018Flamingo Revolution\u2019 against Jared Kushner\u2019s planned property in Albania, June 10, 2026 [AFP]<\/p>\n
The protests, which erupted in the village of Zvernec on the southern coastline where the resort is planned, have been dubbed the Flamingo Revolution, in reference to the protected wetland at the development site that serves as a migratory stop for the birds.<\/p>\n
Rama has sought to play down the ecological concerns, saying an environmental impact assessment would be completed and that the project would proceed responsibly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very proud of what we have done for the wildlife in Albania,\u201d he said. \u201cThe \u200cEuropean Commission has no reason to doubt our firm will to protect whatever has to be protected when it comes to wildlife and nature.\u201d<\/p>\n
EU warning<\/p>\n
The European Union, which has said it could admit Albania and other Balkan countries by 2030, warned that alignment with European environmental law would be a condition of accession.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlbania should refrain from action that could undermine the fulfilment of the closing benchmark,\u201d said EU spokesman Guillaume Mercier. \u201cWe expect the Albanian authorities to act without delay.\u201d<\/p>\n
The protests are the latest test for Rama, who has been in power since 2013 and who many now blame for not eradicating widespread corruption or doing enough to improve basic services like healthcare.<\/p>\n
Rama said he has made strides to deal with corruption by creating a special prosecution office, which has opened a series of \u2060high-profile investigations.<\/p>\n
Still, clashes also broke out earlier this year as protesters demanded the resignation of Rama\u2019s deputy, \u2060Belinda Balluku, over alleged corruption. Rama fired Balluku, but \u2060the mistrust remains.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m here to protest, to finish this saga of the Albanian government. It\u2019s always the same two parties,\u201d protester Fabio Bracaj told Reuters. \u201cWe want a new era. We want a better country.\u201d<\/p>\n
The resort development is the \u200cbrainchild of Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, who described falling in love with Albania a few years ago while visiting on a yacht.<\/p>\n
Opposition ignited last month when developers erected a fence around part of the Zvernec site. The fence was later removed following an outcry.<\/p>\n
Rama has said the project will go ahead regardless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Protesters chant \u2018Albania is not for sale\u2019 as demonstrations swell against Kushner-backed luxury resort plan. Published On 11…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2385],"tags":[4224,66,815,4,256,40,49,1237,17294],"class_list":["post-66081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-european-commission","tag-albania","tag-donald-trump","tag-environment","tag-europe","tag-european-commission","tag-european-union","tag-news","tag-protests","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}