Thousands of Albanians Protest Against Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner

Their $4.6 billion resort project is facing MASSIVE resistance

Jared Kushner’s latest real estate venture is running into a problem: the people who actually live there are taking to the streets by the hundreds of thousands to fight back against it.

VIA Seattle Times

A massive luxury development backed by Kushner and Ivanka Trump is facing growing protests in Albania, where environmental activists, local residents, and government critics say the project threatens one of the country’s most important coastal ecosystems. Not to mention, this is one of the last untouched islands that exists in the Mediterranean.

The development has two major components: a luxury resort on Sazan Island, a former military base, and a sprawling coastal project in the Narta Lagoon area, a protected wildlife reserve along Albania’s Adriatic coastline. The plans include hotels, villas, apartments, and a marina designed to attract wealthy international tourists.

According to Ivanka Trump, the family “discovered” the site by chance while swimming off of one of their friends’ yachts. Speaking on a podcast this week, she said she and Kushner were on a friend’s boat when they stopped for a swim, made their way onto the island barefoot, and became captivated by the location. The whole interview was giving colonizer, Christopher Columbus energy, but that’s beyond the point.

What started as a vacation story has since evolved into a multi-billion-dollar development deal, with an investment firm linked to Kushner that has already received special investor status from Albanian authorities, and Prime Minister Edi Rama has become one of the project’s strongest supporters. He has publicly defended the development, arguing it will help transform Albania into a high-end tourism destination and strengthen its bid for European Union membership.

But critics see something very different… environmental groups warn that construction is underway within one of Albania’s most valuable biodiversity areas, a critical stopover point for migratory birds traveling through the Adriatic region. Protesters have carried cardboard flamingos through the streets of Tirana to draw attention to the protected species that depend on the habitat.

Since late May, heavy machinery has reportedly entered the area, and excavators have begun digging access roads through sand dunes, clearing land among pine forests, and installing fencing around sections of the site. Conservation organizations say the work risks causing irreversible damage to ecosystems that have remained largely untouched for decades.

The issue also extends beyond environmental concerns. Albania’s anti-corruption agency has confirmed it has opened an investigation into the project, although officials have not disclosed what, specifically, is being examined. Questions have also emerged about the ownership and privatization of some of the land involved in the development.

For many Albanians, the project has become a symbol of a broader concern: whether politically connected foreign investors are being handed access to public resources and protected land in exchange for promises of economic development.

The clashes have only intensified after a video circulated showing an environmental activist being dragged away by private security guards during a demonstration near the project site.

Whether the development ultimately moves forward remains to be seen, but what is clear is that a project discovered during a yacht excursion has become one of the biggest political and environmental battles in Albania today.