Albanians protest Jared Kushner's resort plans in protected areasJared Kushner-backed luxury resort stokes days of protests in Albania Demonstrators rallied against a billion-dollar resort development in Albania linked to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump for a seventh consecutive day on Saturday.
Activists have dubbed it the "Flamingo Revolution," adopting the pink flamingo as a symbol of the wildlife they say will be destroyed if the project goes ahead.
President Trump's son-in-law is among a group of investors planning to transform Sazan Island — once a secret communist military base off Albania's Adriatic coast — into a luxury tourist destination. Hotels are also planned by the investors in surrounding areas in the Vjosa-Narta protected zone, which environmentalists say is rich with wildlife, including flamingo habitats.
.............Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of Mr. Trump, referenced her and her husband's plans for the luxury resort while speaking to the "Founders" podcast last month.
"I'm working on an incredible project with my husband in the Mediterranean," she said, before mentioning she and Kushner had "discovered" the island while sailing with friends.
"We swam to the island, we went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated," she said.
Anger escalated sharply last month when excavators and bulldozers moved onto the site. Footage of an activist being dragged away from the development went viral, further inflaming public opposition.
Thousands have taken to the streets in the country's capital every night since the incident and activists have told CBS News that a lack of transparency from the Albanian government — both over this project and wider issues related to alleged corruption — are central to the public outrage.
"There was no public consultation whatsoever," Aleksandr Trajce, executive director of the country's leading conservation group, the Protection and Preservation of the Natural Environment in Albania, told CBS News on Friday. "There was nobody who was informed. Just one day, we saw bulldozers entering outside, opening up roads, cutting trees, destroying the dunes, and so on. So the public knew nothing."
"The government, after some time, they declared that there is apparently a development permit, but actually nobody has seen it, and they have not made that development permit public," he said......................
.............A representative for the development company Sazan Real Estate Development LLC and its investors, including Kushner, told CBS News the company was "excited about the opportunity to create a world-class destination and make one of the largest private investments in the region's history." .........................
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jared-kushner-backed-luxury-resort-stokes-days-of-protests-in-albania/
