Tens of thousands of people gathered in Tirana on Saturday in the largest demonstration to date against a tourist real estate project linked to the family of US President Donald Trump.
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• Also read: Clashes in Albania during a demonstration against a real estate project linked to the Trump family
The 35th consecutive daily demonstration was the largest since the start, at the end of May, of rallies against the construction of a luxury hotel linked to the daughter of the American president, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, in a nature reserve in Zvernec, on the southwest coast of Albania, noted AFP journalists.
Opposition to this project has become the rallying point for anger over what protesters see as corruption, with the latter calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama due to his lack of transparency.
“What began as the “Flamingo Revolution” is turning into widespread popular discontent,” demonstrator Alketa Ademi told AFP. “The lack of transparency, the arrogance – enough is enough!” The Prime Minister must leave,” believes this forty-year-old.
Demonstrators gather in front of the Albanian Prime Minister’s office to protest against the construction of a luxury resort near a protected natural area on Albania’s southern coast, in Tirana, July 4, 2026.
AFP
The mobilization received the nickname “flamingo revolution” in reference to the pink flamingos living in the protected natural area where the tourist complex is planned.
Protesters say the luxury resort, estimated to cost $4.6 billion and planned to be built in a protected area of the Adriatic coast, poses a risk to the environment and to a nearby lagoon critical to bird migration.
Developers also hope to transform the uninhabited Sazan Island – once a secret communist military base – into a prestigious tourist destination.
The project has encountered strong opposition almost since its presentation in 2024. The latest wave of protests began after barbed wire fences and bulldozers appeared on nearby beaches at the end of May.
“Albania is not for sale”
Protests take place every day in the Albanian capital Tirana, and twice this week large groups of demonstrators gathered in front of parliament to try to confront MPs and block access to the building, including on Thursday.
Hundreds of demonstrators came up against lines of riot police who pushed them back, causing clashes and several arrests. Police used tear gas and a water cannon to try to disperse the crowd, with some demonstrators trying to break through police lines, or throwing eggs, stones and other projectiles.
Fifteen officers were injured, and 25 demonstrators arrested, according to police.
The Albanian Helsinki Committee (AHC), a rights organization, expressed “concern over the escalation of the situation” on Saturday.
“Individual violence cannot justify the disproportionate use of force,” she declared, denouncing the use, by the police, of tear gas without warning, batons and blows against demonstrators neutralized on the ground, and calling for a rapid and independent investigation.
This violence contrasts with the essentially peaceful nature of the rallies which have drawn thousands of people into the streets daily since the start of the movement.
“Free the guys,” demonstrators chanted on Saturday evening, referring to the 19 protesters still detained in a Tirana police station.
Some held banners reading “Albania is not for sale” and “Repeal the law on protected areas,” in reference to the legislation that allowed the government to accelerate progress on the project.
Several giant pink flamingos were visible in the arms of demonstrators who marched towards the government headquarters on Tirana’s main boulevard on Saturday. A group carried a large concrete cake, a symbolic reference to the birthday of Prime Minister Edi Rama, who celebrated his 62nd birthday this Saturday.
Albanians from the diaspora are there to demonstrate. Among them, Xheku Shena, who returned from Canada, explains to AFP: “We are not against foreign investments, we are for dignity, respect and transparency, and against the current model which harms the public interest.”
