Demonstrators march during a rally in Tirana on Wednesday calling for a proposed $1.6 billion luxury resort in an enironmentally sensitve island location off Albania’s Adriatic Sea coast by an international consortium led by Donald Tump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Kushner and wife Ivanka Trump stumbled upon the uninhabited island during a vacation. Photo by Malton Dibra/EPA
June 4 (UPI) — Thousands of Albanians marched in the capital Tirana for a third day straight to protest against a $1.6 billion luxury resort backed by Donald Trump‘s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in a national marine park off the country’s Adriatic Sea coast.
Some demonstrators in Wednesday’s protest held inflatable flamingos aloft to highlight the impact they fear the project will have in and around Sazan Island, where work recently got underway in the midst of one of the Mediterranean’s most environmentally-vulnerable areas.
Scuffles broke out with police who fired water canon at protesters.
An offer to meet with opponents from Prime Minister Edi Rama, who has staked his premiership on what he has billed as a developmental coup for the former communist state, was rejected as calls for the project to be halted grew, with protests also set to spread to the south of the country.
“From start to finish there has been a total lack of transparency. We have seen no public consultation or public documentation regarding permits, and so now what we are saying is, if they remove the bulldozers, remove the fence and restore the habitats to what they were, then we can start talking,” said Aleksandr Trajce, executive director of Protection and Preservation of the Natural Environment in Albania.
Kushner stumbled upon the site by chance while vacationing in Albania with his wife, Ivanka Trump.
“We were on a friend’s boat, and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that’s how we found it. We swam to the island. We went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated,” Ivanka Trump said.
Environmentalists are worried about the effect the resort will have on an area that includes the currently uninhabited Sazan Island and the nearby wetlands and coastal habitats of the Karaburun-Sazan Marine Park.
BirdLife International said the park’s waters around Sazan and the Karaburun peninsulta were among the last places where Mediterranean monk seals survive and support populations of flamingos and Dalmatian pelicans as well as 200 other species of birds, many of which are endangered.
Sazan Real Estate Development, which is developing the plans in partnership with Kushner’s Miami-based investment firm, Affinity Partners, insisted it was committed to sustainable development.
“Our focus remains on responsible stewardship, environmental enhancement, job creation, and creating long-term value for local communities. We respect the ongoing public and institutional processes,” said Sazan Real Estate Development chair Asher Abehsera.