In Albania, anger grows against the government for supporting a Kushner-linked luxury resort
A drone view shows protesters gathered outside the prime minister's office in Tirana, Albania, on June 10, during the 10th consecutive day of demonstrations against a proposed luxury tourism development project linked to Jared Kushner. Organizers say thousands of people attended
A drone view shows protesters gathered outside the prime minister's office in Tirana, Albania, on June 10, during the 10th consecutive day of demonstrations against a proposed luxury tourism development project linked to Jared Kushner. Organizers say thousands of people attended the rally. Vlasov Sulaj/NurPhoto via Getty Images hide caption
TIRANA, Albania — The way Ivanka Trump tells it, she and her husband Jared Kushner were vacationing on a friend's boat years ago on the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Albania when they stopped for a swim. "Effectively, that's how we found it," she told podcaster David Senra earlier this month about Sazan, an uninhabited island off Albania's Adriatic coast. "We swam to the island. We went on a hike barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated and it stayed with us ever since."
Over the ensuing years, the couple's captivating trip evolved into plans to build a luxury resort along a stretch of Albanian coastline directly across from the island. Albania's government has given the project preliminary approval, prompting daily protests outside Prime Minister Edi Rama's office in the capital Tirana.
Chanting "Edi Rama out!" thousands of people flooded the capital's streets on a recent day, calling on the prime minister to resign.
"It started with a national area being closed off to the public and having big lorries and trucks starting to build in a protected area," said protester Eden Hosha about Zvérnec, the coastal area across from the island. Hundreds of species of birds nest here in the winter.
But as these protests have grown bigger in recent days, they've become a public show of no-confidence in the Albanian government itself. "We're tired of these guys stealing from us," said Hosha. "Stealing our resources. Selling things that are not theirs to sell."
For decades, Sazan Island was used by Albania's then-ally the Soviet Union as a submarine base and testing grounds for biological and chemical weapons. Soviet-era masks still litter Sazan today.
Hundreds of protesters gather along a beach in Zvérnec, where Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump plan to build a luxury resort. Rob Schmitz/NPR hide caption
