Thousands of protesters have gathered in Albania’s capital, Tirana, in recent weeks to oppose a proposed luxury tourism project whose investors are Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, according to BBC.
A portion of Albania’s pristine southern coast will be transformed into opulent hotels and villas as part of the pair’s multibillion-dollar luxury tourist project.
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Why are people protesting?
Kushner’s investment firm has been pursuing plans for a multibillion-dollar luxury tourism development along Albania’s Adriatic coastline. The proposal includes high-end hotels, villas and tourism infrastructure designed to attract wealthy international visitors.
Albania has increasingly marketed itself as an emerging Mediterranean tourism destination. Government officials have promoted major tourism projects as a way to accelerate economic growth and improve infrastructure.
Many Albanians have reached their breaking point due to years of perceived government corruption, unrestrained tourism, and dissatisfaction with Albania’s economic progress.
It is a general belief among the protesters that the country is being run for the wealthy few rather than the majority.
The two leaders with the longest tenure since the fall of the communist system in 1991, Prime Minister Edi Rama and opposition leader and former premier Sali Berisha, are now being called upon by demonstrators to quit and even be imprisoned.
A civil society activist, Françeska Muço, told Politico, “This is a protest against all the system, of the system after the fall of the dictatorship, and all the negative models that they have normalized in this country.”
She was present at the protest and demonstrations in Tirana calling for the imprisonment of both politicians while waving a flamingo banner.
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Why are protesters calling it the ‘Flamingo Revolution’?
Demonstrators have now accused the government of prioritizing foreign investment over the undeveloped coastline that is home to important wildlife habitats.
One of Europe’s most pristine river deltas, flamingos, and turtles can be found at the projected 10,000-bed resort near the protected wildlife region.
Bottlenose dolphins, Eurasian otters, loggerhead sea turtles, Albanian water frogs, and more than 12% of the country’s wintering waterbirds call this important migratory route home, according to The Guardian.
Flamingos enhance beautiful blue shallows with vivid pink shocks.
The nickname ‘Flamingo Revolution’ came because flamingos have become a symbol of the environmental campaign against the project. Images of flamingos have appeared on protest signs, banners and social media campaigns.
