Albanie protests reach 200,000 over Kushner resort plan
In albanie, up to 200,000 people a day have filled the streets for more than two weeks against Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump’s plan to build a luxury resort on protected land. The protests target a project tied to Sazan island and a protected nature reserve, where demonstrators say flamingos and public land are at risk.
Rama faces street pressure
The scale of the protests has made them the most significant in Albania since the fall of communism. Some Albanians are calling for Prime Minister Edi Rama to resign as the dispute over the resort has moved from a planning fight into a direct challenge to his government.
Rama gave the project fresh political weight in 2025 when Albania’s government granted Atlantic Incubation Partners, an LLC linked to Kushner, “strategic investor” status shortly after Donald Trump won the election. That decision sits at the center of the backlash, because the land in question is described as protected and public.
Ivanka Trump on Sazan
Ivanka Trump has publicly described how she and Jared Kushner became attached to the site. On the David Senra podcast in May, she said, “We went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated.” In 2021, she said they discovered Sazan island from a yacht and swam to the island to explore.
The resort plan is the point of friction. Supporters of the project are pursuing a luxury development on Sazan island, while opponents say the project would displace flamingos and pave over a protected nature reserve. A report by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network claimed the project involves a network of companies and individuals with questionable backgrounds.
Edi Rama and the flamingos
Rama responded on Friday with remarks that sharpened the dispute instead of easing it. Speaking to MS NOW, he said “nobody gives a damn about the stupid flamingos whose habitat is in danger,” called criticism of the project “ideological bullshit,” and asked, “You want me to believe that suddenly the American media … the American world is caring about some flamingos in Albania?”
Albania’s anti-corruption agency has opened an investigation into Kushner’s project, adding a formal review layer to a fight that is now political, environmental and reputational at once. The protests have already become a test of how far a government can push a foreign-linked development on sensitive public land before the street response becomes the main obstacle.
