Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner's Island Resort Could Bring Down Albania’s Prime Minister
Key takeaways
- Protesters have sworn to keep going until their demands are met.
- The plan for Sazan Island was already public, but the Zvërnec project triggered a very different kind of reaction, due to its Vjosa–Narta ecosystem, one of Europe’s last wild coastal systems.
- News circulated among the roughly 150 locals that a residential and tourist complex had been proposed.
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PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION: WIRED STAFF; GETTY IMAGESComment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Several weeks after Ivanka Trump unveiled a real estate venture with husband Jared Kushner for a proposed multibillion-dollar resort on Albania’s coastline, the project has become the focal point of a mass uprising in the country. Furious demonstrators have filled the capital’s streets under signs declaring: “Albania is not a Gucci bag on sale.”
What began as a localized fight against what critics describe as an alleged land grab has evolved to widespread outrage over potential damage to the region’s protected coastal wildlife, culminating this week with hundreds of thousands of Albanians taking to the streets of Tirana, the capital, to demand the end of the country’s government as they know it. Protesters have sworn to keep going until their demands are met.
Objection to the Trump-Kushner plans began at ground level on May 23, when word got out of a proposed development in the Zvërnec area—some 9 miles away from Sazan—which is affiliated with Kushner’s company Affinity Partners. The plan for Sazan Island was already public, but the Zvërnec project triggered a very different kind of reaction, due to its Vjosa–Narta ecosystem, one of Europe’s last wild coastal systems.