Albanians have protested for one hundred straight days against a Trump-family resort on their only island. The island is public property.
As of today Albanians have protested for one hundred straight days against a luxury resort backed by the family of the American president. Al Jazeera reports the milestone. Democracy Now reports that this is the largest sustained demonstration in the country since the fall of communism in 1991.
NBC News reports that Jared Kushner's firm, Affinity Partners, is investing $1.6 billion in the development, planned for Sazan island and the Vjosa-Narta wetland.
The protesters carry inflatable flamingos. The wetland is the country's only flamingo breeding ground.
That is the picture. Here is how the ground got from public to available.
PBS NewsHour describes Sazan as public property and Albania's only island. It was a military base through the communist era, decommissioned and uninhabited.
Al Jazeera reports how the Kushners came to it. Ivanka Trump's own account: "We were on a friend's boat, and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that's how we found it." She has elsewhere described a 1,400-hectare private island. The PBS report notes the contradiction plainly, and so does the Albanian guide it follows around the site.
Then the law moved. Al Jazeera reports that in February 2024 Albania's parliament approved a change removing the ban on construction in protected areas.
There is a dispute worth stating rather than resolving. The government insists the land designated for the project is privately owned. Others question how it came to be private. That argument is live and this page is not going to settle it.
Democracy Now reports that a special anti-corruption unit has issued twenty arrest warrants over the acquisition of more than a million square meters of construction land. Protesters are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama.
NBC News reports that a similar Kushner-linked hotel project at the former Serbian army headquarters in Belgrade was cancelled after street protests in 2025.
Belgrade took less than a hundred days.
By the numbers
- 100 days — consecutive days of protest as of September 8, 2026[1]
- $1.6 billion — Affinity Partners investment in the resort, planned for Sazan and the Vjosa-Narta wetland[2]
- largest since 1991 — the largest sustained demonstration in Albania since the fall of communism[3]
- 20 arrest warrants — issued by a special anti-corruption unit over the acquisition of more than a million square meters of construction land[4]
- public property — Sazan described as public property and Albania's only island, a decommissioned communist-era military base[5]
- February 2024 — Albania's parliament approved a change removing the ban on construction in protected areas[6]
- 2025 — a similar Kushner-linked project at the former Serbian army headquarters in Belgrade was cancelled after protests[7]
The reporting
This story is built on reporting by Al Jazeera. Read the original →
Sources
- Al Jazeera, Flamingo Revolution enters 100th day against Kushner-linked resort
- Al Jazeera, Why the Kushners' plan to build an Albanian resort has sparked protests
- NBC News, Kushner luxury resort plan sparks protests in Albania
- Democracy Now, Albania protests
- PBS NewsHour, A look at the Albanian island where a Kushner-Trump resort plan has sparked protests
Image credits
- Hero: source (CC BY 4.0) — Albinfo
- Bunkers: source (CC BY 4.0) — Albinfo
- Flamingos: source (CC BY-SA 4.0) — Arbenllapashtica
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