- Protests continue against Kushner-linked resort in Albania
- Ivanka Trump says she and her husband, Jared Kushner, ‘discovered’ the island
- 10,000-bed €1.4bn development planned for Sazan Island and Vjosa-Narta
- Demonstrators cite environmental risks and insufficient consultation
- Anti-corruption prosecutors investigating land sale
- Protesters demanding resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama
Protests continue in Albania against a planned 10,000-bed luxury resort linked to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump on the island of Sazan and nearby shoreline. The project sits next to a protected area home to flamingos, pelicans and wetland wildlife. Demonstrators cite environmental risks and insufficient public consultation, with nightly rallies ongoing outside the prime minister’s office in Tirana.
The proposed €1.4bn development aims to build a high-end tourist playground featuring 10,000 hotel rooms and luxury villas. The plan targets Sazan Island, an uninhabited former Cold War military base, and the Vjosa-Narta Nature Reserve, a protected coastal wetland and delta near Zvërnec. Demonstrators and environmental organisations argue that building the mega-resort inside the Vjosa-Narta protected reserve will permanently destroy critical biodiversity.
The movement intensified into physical altercations after private security guards clashed with villagers protesting the installation of barbed-wire fencing at a development site. Albanian anti-corruption prosecutors have opened a formal investigation into a local businessman involved in selling the land to Kushner’s developers, amid allegations of forged property deeds and money laundering. Protesters frequently form human chains around Skanderbeg Square in Tirana, demanding the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama.
The Sazan Island resort project is a highly controversial mega-luxury tourism development planned for Albania’s Adriatic coast. The project is backed by Jared Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners, alongside his wife Ivanka Trump and external financial backing from the Qatari-based Assets Group.
The overall venture spans two distinct, highly sensitive locations: Sazan Island (a $1.4bn luxury resort project) and the nearby Zvërnec coastline and Vjosë-Nartë wetland reserve (a $4.7 billion development).
The project intends to turn the area into a premier high-end global vacation destination. Initial layout documents have revealed plans for: 10,000 hotel rooms, featuring 800 guest rooms, luxury villas, townhouses, and apartments, a dedicated marina, a golf course, a casino, and a water park.
The project has drawn widespread intense public blowback, culminating in a massive, daily anti-government social movement dubbed the “Flamingo Revolution”.
Campaigners ay that the Zvërnec and Vjosë-Nartë coastal landscapes are strictly protected wetlands crucial for biodiversity. It serves as a vital sanctuary for more than 1% of the world’s flamingo population, loggerhead sea turtles, and endangered Mediterranean monk seals. Environmental groups warn that massive construction will permanently destroy these habitats.
Public anger intensified after Ivanka Trump claimed on a podcast that she and Kushner had “discovered” the island, which local activists fiercely countered by pointing out the island is already a cherished national cultural landmark and tourist destination with existing public infrastructure.
Albania’s Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SPAK) launched an official investigation into the project. Investigators are probing controversial 2024 legislative changes passed by the government that conveniently loosened protections for sensitive ecosystems and allowed private commercial construction within previously banned zones. There are also ongoing investigations regarding land acquisition, property ownership disputes, and alleged falsified property documents.
Citizens are protesting the complete privatisation of public beaches and the island’s primary access points, which would bar ordinary Albanians from accessing their own coastline.
Despite mass street protests in the capital city of Tirana and international rallies across European capitals, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has strongly defended the project. Critics accuse the government of bypassing democratic transparency and environmental legal safeguards to court favor with prominent American political families, a scandal that watchdogs warn could compromise Albania’s current bid for EU accession
Sazan Island is an uninhabited public property that previously served as a secretive military base.
