Jared Kushner-backed luxury resort stokes days of protests in Albania

TIRANA, Albania — Demonstrators rallied against a billion-dollar resort development in Albania linked to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump for a seventh consecutive day on Saturday. 

Activists have dubbed it the “Flamingo Revolution,” adopting the pink flamingo as a symbol of the wildlife they say will be destroyed if the project goes ahead.

President Trump’s son-in-law is among a group investors planning to transform Sazan Island — once a secret communist military base off Albania’s Adriatic coast — into a luxury tourist destination. Hotels are also planned by the investors in surrounding areas in the Vjosa-Narta protected zone, which environmentalists say is rich with wildlife, including flamingo habitats.

Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of Mr. Trump, referenced her and her husband’s plans for the luxury resort while speaking to the “Founders” podcast last month. 

“I’m working on an incredible project with my husband in the Mediterranean,” she said, before mentioning she and Kushner had “discovered” the island while sailing with friends.

“We swam to the island, we went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated,” she said.

Anger escalated sharply last month when excavators and bulldozers moved onto the site. Footage of an activist being dragged away from the development went viral, further inflaming public opposition. 

Thousands have taken to the streets in the country’s capital every night since the incident and activists have told CBS News that a lack of transparency from the Albanian government — both over this project and wider issues related to alleged corruption — are central to the public outrage. 

“There was no public consultation whatsoever,” Aleksandr Trajce, executive director of the country’s leading conservation group, the Protection and Preservation of the Natural Environment in Albania, told CBS News on Friday. “There was nobody who was informed. Just one day, we saw bulldozers entering outside, opening up roads, cutting trees, destroying the dunes, and so on. So the public knew nothing.”

“The government, after some time, they declared that there is apparently a development permit, but actually nobody has seen it, and they have not made that development permit public,” he said.

Rama’s socialist administration has been embroiled in a corruption scandal since charges were filed late last year against Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, a close ally of Rama. The country’s parliament, led by a socialist majority, has blocked her arrest, however. 

Earlier this week, SPAK, Albania’s anti-corruption prosecution office, opened an investigation into the project, according to local media reporting. 

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who has led the country since 2013, has insisted the project will go ahead despite rising public pressure and has championed the development as a potential economic boon for the country, which has one of the lowest rates of GDP per capita in Europe. 

“It is very important that we remain welcoming, that we remain fair, and that under no circumstances do we receive the stigma of being ⁠a country where investors are met with hostility,” he said in a statement shared with Reuters.”There is absolutely no chance that the investment will stop as long as I am here.”

CBS News travelled with protesters Saturday to the Zvërnec area on Albania’s southern coast, where some of the planned development is located. There was little trace of bulldozers or building equipment left in the area beyond tire tracks along the beach. 

Demonstrators attributed that to an effort by the Albanian government to quell public anger over the project but also told CBS News the planning stages of the development had already caused environmental damage. 

A local environmental officer for the PPNEA told CBS News that the group had been able to map the destruction of at least one sea turtle nest in the area due to the bulldozers. 

A representative for the development company Sazan Real Estate Development LLC and its investors, including Kushner, told CBS News the company was “excited about the opportunity to create a world-class destination and make one of the largest private investments in the region’s history.” 

“Our focus remains on responsible stewardship, environmental enhancement, job creation, and creating long-term value for local communities. We respect the ongoing public and institutional processes, and we stand ready to move forward as they unfold,” the company’s CEO, Asher Abehsera, said in a statement to CBS News on Friday.

But protesters in Albania continue to reject the plans. 

“It’s not that I don’t want this country to be grown and to be known worldwide, and to have a lot of tourists,” one young woman told CBS News in Tirana on Friday evening. 

“But it’s not the best place because that place is part of UNESCO and I don’t want the flamingos and any kind of animals to be destroyed from their homes,” she said.