{"id":131710,"date":"2026-06-03T22:04:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T04:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/what-to-know-protests-grow-over-trump-family-linked-resort-in-albania\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T02:06:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T08:06:26","slug":"what-to-know-about-the-protests-over-a-trump-family-linked-resort-in-albania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/what-to-know-about-the-protests-over-a-trump-family-linked-resort-in-albania\/","title":{"rendered":"What to know about the protests over a Trump family-linked resort in Albania"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Protesters
Protesters scuffle with police officers blocking a street during a demonstration in Tirana, Albania, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, opposing a luxury coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump over concerns about environmental impacts and transparency.(AP Photo\/Hameraldi Agolli)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Hameraldi Agolli)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TIRANA, Albania (AP) \u2014 A massive coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a>, is facing growing resistance from protesters in Albania<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The government says the development on the Adriatic coast would be transformational for the former communist nation as it seeks to enter the high-end tourism market and pushes for European Union membership.<\/p>\n

But the venture, spanning an abandoned island and a nearby stretch of seafront on Albania\u2019s southern coast, has drawn opposition from environmental campaigners and critics of long-time Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kushner and Ivanka Trump found the site on a barefoot hike<\/strong><\/p>\n

The luxury project has two components: a coastal development in the Narta Lagoon area, which is a wildlife reserve, and a smaller resort on the nearby uninhabited island of Sazan, a communist-era military base.<\/p>\n

The planned development of hotels, apartments, villas and a marina is linked to Kushner and Trump\u2019s daughter, Ivanka Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In an interview this week with U.S. podcaster David Senra, Ivanka Trump said they discovered the site by accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were on a friend\u2019s boat, and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that\u2019s how we found it,\u201d she said. \u201cWe swam to the island. We went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated.\u201d<\/p>\n

An investment firm linked to Kushner has been granted special investor status by Albanian authorities.<\/p>\n

Harsh rule, pristine beaches <\/strong><\/p>\n

Albania has 450 kilometers (280 miles) of coast that remained largely underdeveloped during decades of harsh communist rule.<\/p>\n

Protest groups fear the sections of that pristine coastline could be snapped up by powerful investors. And public anger grew after video showed an activist being dragged by a private security guard while demonstrating at the site.<\/p>\n

The development is planned within a nature reserve and one of Albania\u2019s most valuable biodiversity areas, a key stopover for migratory birds along the Adriatic coast.<\/p>\n

Protesters have carried cardboard cut-outs of pink flamingos, one of the protected migratory bird species, at rallies in the capital Tirana.<\/p>\n

Since late May, excavators and other heavy machinery have entered the area, opening access routes, digging into the sand, clearing land among pine trees and installing fencing.<\/p>\n

Environmental groups from Albania and elsewhere in Europe condemned the work, with one prominent local group charging that long-protected habitats are being “irreversibly destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n

A multi-billion dollar bonanza?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Albania\u2019s state anti-corruption agency has confirmed it opened an investigation related to the project but has not disclosed details.<\/p>\n

The government says the land earmarked for the project is privately owned. But competing claims have emerged questioning the privatization \u2014 a common type of legal dispute.<\/p>\n

Rama has committed to the venture, saying it would align with Albania\u2019s ambition to become a major global tourism destination.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlbania should not be a country that fears an extraordinary project like this one, where exceptional partners have come together to invest 4 billion euros ($4.6 billion),\u201d Rama said.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThere is no chance for this investment to stop as long as I am here.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the demise of a similar project in Serbia offers a cautionary tale. In November, Serbia’s Parliament passed a special law<\/a> to enable the building of a luxury complex in the capital, Belgrade, to be financed by an investment company linked to Kushner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The following month, Serbia’s prosecutor for organized crime charged four people<\/a>, including a government minister, with abuse of office and falsifying of documents to help pave the way for the development.<\/p>\n

Kushner later withdrew from the planned multi-million investment<\/a> that would have replaced a sprawling bombed-out military complex, a designated heritage zone whose legal protection was lifted by the former officials now on trial.<\/p>\n

\"Police
Police officers block a street during a demonstration in Tirana, Albania, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, opposing a luxury coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump over concerns about environmental impacts and transparency.(AP Photo\/Hameraldi Agolli)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Hameraldi Agolli)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Police
Police use a water cannon to disperse protesters during a demonstration in Tirana, Albania, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, opposing a luxury coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump over concerns about environmental impacts and transparency. (AP Photo\/Hameraldi Agolli)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Hameraldi Agolli)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Protesters
Protesters hold pink flamingo cutouts during a demonstration in Tirana, Albania, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, opposing a luxury coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump over concerns about environmental impacts and transparency. (AP Photo\/Hameraldi Agolli)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Hameraldi Agolli)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Police
Police officers block a street during a demonstration in Tirana, Albania, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, opposing a luxury coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump over concerns about environmental impacts and transparency. (AP Photo\/Hameraldi Agolli)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Hameraldi Agolli)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Protesters scuffle with police officers blocking a street during a demonstration in Tirana, Albania, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, opposing a luxury coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump over concerns about environmental impacts and transparency.(AP Photo\/Hameraldi Agolli)(AP Photo\/Hameraldi Agolli) TIRANA, Albania (AP) \u2014 A massive coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-131710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131710"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131790,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131710\/revisions\/131790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131710"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=131710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}