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Thousands of people in Albania took to the streets on Tuesday night for the fourth consecutive day, in protest of a $4 billion luxury resort project on Albania’s largest island spearheaded by Jared Kushner.
Protests near the site began on Saturday, May 30, after developers erected barbed-wire fences blocking off public access to the local beach and coast. Demonstrators attempted to force a halt to the construction. After private security guards dragged a protestor away, anger mounted further.
At the construction site, protestors shouted, “Don’t defend the oligarchs, these are the citizens’ properties!”
On Monday and Tuesday, the protests expanded into the capital city, Tirana, with thousands taking to the streets. Protestors chanted “Albania belongs to Albanians,” and held signs that read “I don’t want Albania like Dubai” and “Hands off Vjosa-Narta,” a protected area along the coast that the project will encroach on.
The project is set for Sazan, Albania’s only island in the Mediterranean. Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, announced his plans to turn the island into a resort in 2024. His wife Ivanka Trump has also spoken about the island, which she said she and Kushner laid eyes on while vacationing in the area.
The development will likely be inaccessible to everyday people – Kushner has called it a “very high-end luxury product.” It will feature 10,000 hotel rooms and villas.
Part of the project is in a protected area, a “coastal wetland area home to flamingos, seals and sea turtle nesting sites,” which people fear will be harmed and polluted by the development.
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In January, 41 environmental organizations from 28 countries sent a letter to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, calling for “the immediate suspension” of the project as it poses “serious risks to the biodiversity and critical habitats of the area,” many of which are endangered species.
Rama agreed to the project to boost the country’s tourism economy. Last year, Rama’s Strategic Investment Committee granted Kushner’s firm Affinity Partners “strategic investor” status, which expedites permits and access to state land.
But the last few days of protests have prompted the opening of an investigation by Albanian anti-corruption prosecutors.
Kushner’s firm also purchased a tower complex in the Serbian capital Belgrade, with the intent to create a luxury hotel complex, but protests halted the project and resulted in the indictment of multiple officials on corruption charges.
Affinity Partners, Jared Kushner’s private equity and investment firm, has a focus on investments in the U.S. and Israel, and is largely funded by the Saudi government – making it the first time that Saudi Arabia has invested in Israel. Kushner sees it as part of his efforts to bring about normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel, saying that the Saudi government’s agreement to fund Affinity Partners “kicked off historic regional change which needs to be reinforced and nurtured to achieve its potential.”
The Saudi government’s wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, initially objected to funding Affinity Partners, but Mohammed bin Salman – crown prince and close ally to Kushner – stepped in to overrule this decision.
Kushner also serves on Trump’s flailing “Board of Peace,” which the president created to oversee the redevelopment of Gaza in the wake of Israel’s U.S.-backed genocide. Kushner, who sits on the “Gaza Executive Board,” presented his plan for a “New Gaza” in Davos this January – and it also imagined a tourist and resort hub, likely dependent on the forced transfer of Palestinians from the Strip.
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