The “Flamingo Revolution”: Public Demonstrations Against a Luxury Resort Complex in Southern Albania
Massive anti-government protests erupted in Albania’s capital city of Tirana and elsewhere across the country at the end of May 2026, and have since spread to involve the Albanian diaspora in Europe and the US. The slogan “Albania is Not for Sale” has been adopted by protestors, who have also called upon the country’s Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama, in post since 2013, to resign. A profusion of inflatable pink flamingos-a symbol of the movement-at protests has led to the depiction of the events as the “Flamingo Revolution.” Clashes between the police and angry protesters have even turned violent in Tirana, as petrol bombs have been responded to with tear gas and water cannon. Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha, a former prime minister, has backed the demonstrators, as might be expected under the circumstances. A nationwide protest has been scheduled for 10 June.
The demonstrations were triggered by the appearance of security guards and the installation of barbed-wire fences to deny public access to Dalani Beach in the Zvërnec Peninsula in southern Albania. The land is on the site of a planned luxury resort complex, where bulldozers have already moved in. Observers at the scene have noted that trees have been cut down, while sand dunes have been levelled and gravelled over.
Affinity Partners, a Miami-based American private equity and investment firm founded by Jared Kushner in 2021, was given the go-ahead by the Albanian government on 30 December 2024 to construct a luxury resort complex, with 10,000 hotel rooms, on the uninhabited 1,400-acre island of Sazan in the Adriatic Sea. Kushner had first presented his plans for a luxury resort in August 2024. The $1.6-billion project on Sazan has the unstinting support of Edi Rama, who has promoted the project as providing a much-needed major boost to Albania’s economy. The planned island resort; a much larger $4.7 -billion coastal development in the Zvërnec Peninsula, on the mainland opposite; and the nearby Vlora International Airport have all been enabled by Albania’s Law No. 21/2024, an amendment to the Law on Protected Areas in February 2024 that has considerably relaxed environmental protections.
Sazan island, the largest island of Albania, is located at the westernmost point of the country, between the entrance to the bay of Vlorë and the Strait of Otranto. It straddles the waters between the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. Sazan served as a military base for Albania’s secretive communist regime during the Cold War. The abandoned island, littered with nuclear bunkers, has more recently “captivated” President Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka Trump, who, along with her husband Jared Kushner, ‘rediscovered’ Sazan and “developed the opportunity to help realise its potential.” Jared and Ivanka’s love affair with Sazan island began after they first visited in 2021.
The proposed development also threatens the nearby Pishë Poro-Nartë Protected Area, which lies within the Vjosa-Nartë Protected Landscape. This protected coastal ecosystem is part of the delta of the Vjosa River. Its sand dunes, lagoons, wetlands, and pine forests are home to migratory birds (flamingos, Dalmatian pelicans), Mediterranean monk seals, and loggerhead sea-turtle nesting sites. PPNEA (Preservation and Protection of the Natural Environment in Albania), a national non-governmental environmental organisation, has criticised the lack of public consultation and environmental impact assessment, and the premature issuance of permits for the “illegal construction” of the luxury resort. Albania’s very accession to the EU is under threat as Chapter 27 negotiations on Environment and Climate Change could be compromised were the luxury project to go ahead as planned.
The highly-respected SPAK (Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organised Crime) has now opened an investigation into the project. SPAK has shown that it has teeth, having successfully filed criminal charges on 31 October 2025 against Belinda Balluku, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, for manipulating public tenders. She was suspended by the Constitutional Court shortly thereafter and then dismissed by Rama in February 2026. There is also a precedent for the impact of public protest on luxury developments. A similar project for a Trump International Hotel in Belgrade in neighbouring Serbia never came to fruition, in the face of local opposition and allegations of government corruption. The proposal to turn the former defence ministry building into a luxury hotel was withdrawn in December 2025.
Foreign investment in luxury tourism infrastructure is meant to further boost Albania’s growing economy and attract well-heeled elite visitors at a time when tourism is a major driver of economic growth, accounting for over 26% of national GDP in 2025. Growing numbers of tourists continue to discover the “hidden gem” of the western Balkans and its many delights, including its largely pristine 225-mile-long coastline. It is a question of balancing the longer-term detrimental environmental impacts of the new developments, which will remain inaccessible to ordinary citizens, against the short-to medium-term economic benefits of larger numbers of visitors. Sustainable tourism that protects the country’s natural and cultural assets, and the proper oversight of development projects must remain priorities in Albania. What happens to the proposed luxury development is ultimately a matter to be decided between the people of Albania and their political leaders.
Ashis Banerjee