Thousands Join Jared Kushner Albania Resort Protests in Tirana
Thousands of protesters gathered on Tirana’s main boulevard on Wednesday for the fourth night of jared kushner albania resort protests against a resort proposed by Jared Kushner’s firm. The demonstrations have spread from a land dispute into a broader challenge to a plan that could bring up to 10,000 hotel rooms to Albania’s Sazan Island and the Zvernec coastline near Vlora.
Suzi, a tourism sector protester, said, “We are protesting because we are in danger of giving our land to people who have zero interest in helping Albanians, but only in profiting for themselves.” Protesters have carried flamingo-shaped cardboard cut-outs and adopted the flamingo as a symbol while they press their case in the capital.
Affinity Partners and Sazan Island
In 2024, Jared Kushner announced plans for his private equity firm, Affinity Partners, to develop a major luxury resort on Sazan Island and the Zvernec coastline near Vlora. The project is tied to a once-protected natural ecosystem that is home to flamingos, more than 200 migratory bird species, Mediterranean monk seals and nesting sea turtles.
Changes to Albania’s law on protected areas in 2024 paved the way for tourism developments in some protected areas. That legal shift has given the resort plan a path forward even as the site’s wildlife has become central to the protest movement’s public message.
Barbed wire and arrests in May
Late May 2026 brought the sharpest turn so far. Developers fenced off part of the site with barbed wire, triggering demonstrations, clashes with private security guards, several arrests and the jailing of a security guard accused of assaulting and unlawfully detaining a protester.
Earlier this week, Albania’s anti-corruption prosecutor announced it was investigating the ownership and legal status of the earmarked land and seized assets of people linked to the project. The probe put the project’s land deal under legal scrutiny while the protests were already underway in Tirana.
Gresa Hasa called the protests “unprecedented in Albania’s post-communist history” and said, “Without the support of any political party, they are building an independent grassroots movement driven by citizen-led mobilization. These are mainly young people, most of whom are under 30.”
Edi Rama keeps talks open
Jared Kushner visited the site with Ivanka Trump in January 2026, and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama confirmed in April 2026 that discussions over the project were continuing. On Wednesday, Rama told International, “The challenge is not to pour concrete over the heads of flamingos. The challenge is to prove that development and nature can not only coexist, but that nature and development need each other.”
The next pressure point now sits with the anti-corruption investigation and the continuing protests in Tirana. One track runs through Albania’s courts and land records; the other runs through a movement that has already reached a fourth night and shows no sign of narrowing its target to one site alone.
