Kushner-backed Albania resort plan sparks flamingo protests

Thousands of Albanians have rallied for days against a Jared Kushner-backed luxury resort project on the Adriatic coast, turning the pink flamingo into the symbol of a protest movement over development in one of the country’s most sensitive protected areas.

The demonstrations, dubbed by activists the “Flamingo Revolution,” continued Saturday for a seventh consecutive day in Tirana. Protesters have carried inflatable flamingos, chanted “Albania is not for sale” and gathered outside Prime Minister Edi Rama’s residence, where some called for his resignation. NBC News reported that demonstrators clashed with police, who used water cannons.

At the center of the dispute is a planned tourist development tied to Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and his investment firm, Affinity Partners. The project includes Sazan Island, an uninhabited former secret communist military base off Albania’s coast, and nearby areas around the protected Vjosa-Narta delta and Zvërnec Peninsula. NBC News reported the project is valued at $1.6 billion; CBS News described it as a billion-dollar development.

Environmentalists say the area contains flamingo habitat, pristine beaches, coastal wetlands and protected species, including migratory birds, dolphins, sea turtles and monk seals. NBC News reported that the area is Albania’s only breeding ground for flamingos.

“It’s one of the most amazing habitats that we have when it comes to protected areas and coastal wetlands,” Joni Vorpsey, an environmentalist and manager at the NGO Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania, told NBC News. “When you are there, it’s exactly like a fairy tale.”

Anger escalated after excavators and bulldozers arrived in recent weeks at one of the sites. Footage of an activist being dragged away from the development went viral, CBS News reported. Demonstrators said the machinery was later removed, though tire tracks remained along the beach during a CBS News visit to the Zvërnec area Saturday.

Aleksandr Trajce, executive director of the Protection and Preservation of the Natural Environment in Albania, told CBS News the public had been kept in the dark.

“There was no public consultation whatsoever,” Trajce said. “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.”

He said the government later stated that a development permit existed, but “nobody has seen it, and they have not made that development permit public.” A local environmental officer for the group told CBS News it had mapped the destruction of at least one sea turtle nest because of the bulldozers.

Rama, who has led Albania since 2013, has defended the project as an economic boost for a country with one of Europe’s lowest GDP-per-capita rates. In a statement shared with Reuters, he said Albania must remain open to investors.

“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,” Rama said. “There is absolutely no chance that the investment will stop as long as I am here.”

In a Facebook reel Tuesday, Rama said the project reflected an ambition to create the “most attractive destination of this side of the Mediterranean.”

Ivanka Trump has also promoted the development. Speaking on the “Founders” podcast, she said she was working on “an incredible project with my husband in the Mediterranean” and described discovering 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.

A representative for 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,” CEO Asher Abehsera said. “We respect the ongoing public and institutional processes, and we stand ready to move forward as they unfold.”

Critics have accused Rama of trying to gain favor with the White House; NBC News reported the project was approved days before Trump took office last year. White House press spokesperson Anna Kelly told NBC News that Kushner is a “volunteer” and that his private business activities “have nothing to do with the President or the administration.”

Albania’s anti-corruption prosecution office, SPAK, opened an investigation into the project this week, according to local media cited by CBS News. Rama’s government is also facing a separate corruption scandal after charges were filed late last year against Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, a close ally of the prime minister; Albania’s socialist-led parliament has blocked her arrest.

For protesters, the objections remain focused on the land and wildlife. “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. “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.”