Albania's Flamingo Revolution: Mass Protests Target Trump-Linked Luxury Resort
Massive demonstrations known as the "flamingo revolution" have swept across Albania, beginning as an environmental protest and evolving into a nationwide campaign against the country's ruling class. The unrest was triggered by plans for a luxury resort development backed by Jared Kushner's private equity fund, Affinity Partners, and Ivanka Trump. The project targets the Vjosa-Narta protected landscape and Sazan Island, areas home to endangered species including loggerhead sea turtles, the Mediterranean monk seal, and flamingos.
The protests intensified after reports emerged that heavy machinery began clearing land in the Pishë Poro-Narta area in late April without permits or environmental reviews. Bulldozers felled pine trees and flattened sand dunes to make way for a proposed 10,000-bed resort valued at approximately €1.4 billion. Public outrage grew further following a viral video from May 30 showing a security guard violently dragging a protester across the dunes near the village of Zvërnec.
Activists and environmentalists, including the Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment (PPNEA), have condemned the project as "land grabbing and destruction of the ecosystem." The movement gained momentum after Ivanka Trump mentioned in a podcast that she and Kushner discovered the 1,400-hectare private island while on a yacht trip. Demonstrators have since filled the streets of Tirana and other cities like Shkodra and Durres, carrying banners declaring "Albania is not for sale."
The crisis has expanded into a broader political movement, with protesters calling for the resignation and imprisonment of Prime Minister Edi Rama and opposition leader Sali Berisha. Many citizens view the development as a symbol of 35 years of frustration with the country's transition from communism and a lack of government transparency. Prime Minister Rama has dismissed the unrest as "engineered digital hysteria" and asserted that the investment will not be stopped.
