Protests surge in Albania against Kushner-linked resort plans

Kushner-linked resort – In Albania’s south, protesters are clashing with a fast-moving luxury development tied to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Work has accelerated inside sensitive habitats near the Narta Lagoon nature reserve and on the uninhabited island of Sazan, as the governm

When heavy machinery rolled into Albania’s southern coast in late May, the fight didn’t start with paperwork. It started on the sand—by people who say they watched fencing go up around places they consider irreplaceable.

The project at the center of the growing unrest is a sprawling coastal development linked to Jared Kushner. the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, and his wife’s father-to-be business ties through Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump. Albania’s government calls the plan transformational for a country seeking to break into high-end tourism and pursue European Union membership.

Opponents see something else. They say the resort would take over part of a wildlife reserve and a highly valuable biodiversity area, and they accuse powerful interests of snapping up pristine shoreline that was left largely untouched during decades of harsh communist rule.

The opposition is focused on two connected pieces along the Adriatic: development in the Narta Lagoon area—described as a wildlife reserve—and a smaller resort on the nearby uninhabited island of Sazan. a communist-era military base. Organizers and protesters argue that the land at stake is not “empty,” but alive with protected wildlife.

They are also pushing back against what they call the project’s momentum. Since late May, excavators and other heavy machinery have entered the area, opening access routes, digging into the sand, clearing land among pine trees, and installing fencing.

In the capital, Tirana, protest groups have carried cardboard cut-outs of pink flamingos, one of the protected migratory bird species, bringing the fight into public view through images of what they believe could be lost.

Some anger was sharpened after a video showed an activist being dragged by a private security guard while demonstrating at the site.

Ivanka Trump, in a separate thread of the story, described how the family found the location. In an interview this week with U.S. podcaster David Senra, she said she and Kushner discovered it by accident—stopping on a friend’s boat, swimming, and then going on a barefoot hike to the island’s top.

Her account, she said, was simple: “We were on a friend’s boat, and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that’s how we found it.” She added: “We swam to the island. We went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated.”

For the developers, the pitch is clear. The luxury project is tied to an investment firm linked to Kushner, which has been granted special investor status by Albanian authorities. The plan calls for hotels, apartments, villas, and a marina.

For critics, the speed and the setting are harder to accept. They argue the work is happening in a nature reserve and in one of Albania’s most valuable biodiversity areas, described as a key stopover for migratory birds along the Adriatic coast.

Environmental groups from Albania and elsewhere in Europe condemned the work. One prominent local group said long-protected habitats are being “irreversibly destroyed.”

The clash has also drawn official attention beyond the public demonstrations. Albania’s state anti-corruption agency has confirmed it opened an investigation related to the project, but it has not disclosed details.

The government says the land earmarked for the project is privately owned. Yet competing claims have emerged, challenging the privatization—described as a common type of legal dispute.

Prime Minister Edi Rama has committed to the venture and argues it fits Albania’s broader goal of becoming a major global tourism destination. In comments reported in connection with the project. Rama said Albania “should not be a country that fears an extraordinary project like this one. where exceptional partners have come together to invest 4 billion euros ($4.6 billion).” He added: “There is no chance for this investment to stop as long as I am here.”.

The government’s confidence sits alongside a separate warning from the region: the demise of a similar luxury project in Serbia. In November. Serbia’s Parliament passed a special law enabling the building of a luxury complex in Belgrade. financed by an investment company linked to Kushner. The following month. Serbia’s prosecutor for organized crime charged four people. including a government minister. with abuse of office and falsifying of documents to help pave the way for the development.

Kushner later withdrew from the planned multi-million investment that would have replaced a sprawling bombed-out military complex, in an area described as a designated heritage zone whose legal protection was lifted by the former officials now on trial.

Back in Albania, protesters have continued to bring the debate into public space—under pressure from their own timeline of visible construction. Excavators have already entered the areas that critics say are biologically critical, and fencing has already been installed.

At the center of it all is a question that keeps reappearing in different forms: whether the promise of high-end tourism and European integration can be made to coexist with the protection of a coastline that environmental campaigners say has already been treated too lightly. For now, the government insists the plan will proceed; demonstrators insist it shouldn’t have started at all.

Albania protests Narta Lagoon Sazan island Jared Kushner Ivanka Trump luxury resort Edi Rama environmental campaigners pink flamingos anti-corruption investigation European Union tourism