Albania's 'Flamingo Revolution:' Thousands protest Kushner resort over wildlife concerns
Thousands take to streets over environmental threat to protected Albanian wetland as the "Flamingo Revolution" spreads
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said Monday he would press ahead with a luxury resort project linked to Jared Kushner despite weeks of growing protests over its environmental impact on a protected coastal wetland, telling Reuters the development would make the country proud.
Kushner's investment firm Affinity Partners is involved in the €1.4 billion project near the Vjosa-Narta protected area on Albania's southern Adriatic coast, a habitat for flamingoes, monk seals, and sea turtle nesting sites.
A second project on nearby Sazan Island brings the combined value of the two developments to as much as €5 billion, Rama said. Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump reportedly fell in love with the Albanian coastline during a boat trip, on which they also met Rama.
Thousands have taken to the streets of Tirana and the southern coast in recent weeks, with the flamingo emerging as the movement's symbol. Protesters are brandishing inflatable pink birds and signs reading "Flamingo Revolution."
Demonstrations intensified after the site was fenced off with barbed wire in late May during early construction work, with some protesters injured in clashes with private security. The fencing has since been removed, and Rama later acknowledged it was a "disgraceful idea."
Despite the unrest, Rama is defiant. "It's going to be a beautiful project and we're going to do it and we're going to be proud to contribute to Europe," he told Reuters in his Tirana office, just meters from where nightly protests have been taking place. "I was voted in to make these things happen. I'm not voted to be led by people that have a different idea of how to develop the country."
Rama dismissed environmental concerns, saying an impact assessment had not yet been completed and would be conducted in parallel with development. The European Commission has not raised objections, he said, adding that Albania had a strong record of wildlife protection.
Protesters say the demonstrations have grown beyond the resort issue, with demonstrators also venting broader frustration at Rama's 13-year tenure over corruption and inadequate public services. "We are getting bigger, and we are here until he resigns," said one student protester.