Thousands of Albanians have taken to the streets to protest a luxury development planned by Donald Trump’s son-in-law on an environmentally sensitive part of the Adriatic coast.
Demonstrators rallied in Tirana for a third straight day on Wednesday, with police using water cannons to push back crowds waving flares and cardboard flamingoes to urge against the threat to local wildlife if the project goes ahead.
The €1.4bn (£1.21bn) resort is being led by Kushner’s investment firm Affinity Partners on Albania’s Sazan Island and the Zvernec coastline near the Vjosa-Narta protected landscape, a wetland home to flamingos, seals and sea turtle nesting sites.
Environmentalists oppose the plan, which they say would impact several hundred hectares of pristine beaches. Protesters gathered outside Mr Rama’s office on Tuesday evening, carrying signs that read, “Nation is not for sale”, and “I don’t want Albania like Dubai”.
“We want all construction to halt and heavy machines out of the protected area,” said Joni Vorpsi, an ecologist with PPNEA-BirdLife Albania organisation, adding: “This would be a new city with around 10,000 rooms and it will completely destroy that wild region.”
Protests by locals and non-profit organisations started after large barbed wire fences were erected by developers at the proposed site in Zvernec last month. Several hundred gathered and clashed with private guards on Saturday, with some left injured.
Albanian prime minister Edi Rama sought to calm the protests this week, telling CNN International that the project does not yet exist and that the environmental assessment is still being carried out.
“The challenge is not to pour concrete over the heads of flamingos,” he told CNN on Wednesday. “The challenge is to prove that development and nature can not only coexist, but that nature and development need each other.”
On Tuesday, Mr Rama argued that Albania must remain open to foreign investment, insisting: “There is absolutely no chance that the investment will stop as long as I am here.”
Albania’s state anti-corruption agency has confirmed it opened an investigation related to the project, but has not disclosed details. The government says the land for development is privately owned.
The project itself is split into a coastal development in the Narta Lagoon area, which is a wildlife reserve, and a small resort on the nearby uninhabited island of Sazan, a communist-era military base. The developers hope to build hotels, apartments, villas and a marina in the area.
Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka said she and her husband, Mr Kushner, discovered the site by accident.
“We were on a friend’s boat and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that’s how we found it,” she said in an interview this week with US podcaster David Senra.
“We swam to the island. We went on a hike, barefoot all the way to the top. And we were just captivated.”
The couple announced plans to construct luxury hotels and villas in Albania in 2024.
The Albanian authorities have granted the investment firm linked to Mr Kushner special investor status. Since May, excavators and other heavy machinery have entered the area, digging into the sand and clearing land among pine trees.
Asher Abehsera, the US-based chair of Sazan Real Estate Development LLC, which is developing the plans in partnership with Mr Kushner’s firm, defended the project.
“Our focus remains on responsible stewardship, environmental enhancement, job creation, and creating long-term value for local communities,” he said in a statement. “We respect the ongoing public and institutional processes.”
Affinity Partners and Mr Kushner did not respond to requests for comment.
Mr Kushner announced plans to build the resort as part of a wider investment that also included a former army headquarters in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. Last year, he gave up on the Serbia project following street protests against it.
