Albanians protest Kushner-linked luxury resort on pristine coastline
The €1.4bn resort is being pursued by Mr Kushner's investment firm Affinity Partners on an island off Albania and along an undeveloped coastal strip near the Vjosa-Narta protected landscape, a wetland that shelters flamingos, seals and sea turtle...
Anger over a luxury tourism scheme tied to Jared Kushner has spilled into the streets of Tirana, where thousands of Albanians have marched in recent days against a project planned for one of the Adriatic coast’s most environmentally fragile areas.
The €1.4bn resort is being pursued by Mr Kushner’s investment firm Affinity Partners on an island off Albania and along an undeveloped coastal strip near the Vjosa-Narta protected landscape, a wetland that shelters flamingos, seals and sea turtle nesting sites.
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Environmental groups are fighting the proposal, warning that it would affect several hundred hectares of unspoiled beaches.
Demonstrators protest a planned tourism development by a group linked to Jared Kushner, the husband of Ivanka Trump
Developers insist the project will move forward responsibly.
Affinity Partners and Mr Kushner did not respond to requests for comment.
On Tuesday evening, protesters assembled outside the office of Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama, carrying inflatable flamingoes and signs reading “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.
“This would be a new city with around 10,000 rooms and it will completely destroy that wild region.”
Mr Rama came out in support of the project on Tuesday.
“It is very important that we remain welcoming, that we remain fair, and that under no circumstances do we receive the stigma of being a country where investors are met with hostility,” he said in a statement shared with Reuters.
“There is absolutely no chance that the investment will stop as long as I am here.”
The demonstrations by residents and non-profit groups began after developers installed large barbed wire fences at the proposed site in Zvernec, near Vlora.
Several hundred people turned out on Saturday and clashed with private guards, leaving some injured, a Reuters witness said.
Mr Kushner unveiled plans for the resort in 2024 as part of a broader investment push that also included a former army headquarters in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. Last year, he abandoned the Serbia project after street protests against it.
