David Edwards
June 3, 2026
RAW STORY
Ivanka Trump waves during a world leaders' summit on ending the Gaza war, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, October 13, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Thousands of Albanians have taken to the streets — and the internet — to rage against a planned luxury resort linked to Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, with protesters demanding the government cancel the project and chanting "Ivanka, go home."
The flashpoint is a proposed €4 billion ($4.7 billion) development — described by Prime Minister Edi Rama as an "extraordinary investment" — on Sazan Island and the protected Vjosa-Narta coastal wetlands in southern Albania. Ivanka described it in dreamy terms on a recent podcast.
"It's an unbelievable, beautiful, 1,400-hectare private island in the middle of the Mediterranean," she told host David Senra. "We swam to the island, we went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated."
She did not mention the protests.
On the ground in Albania, the mood was rather less romantic. Anadolu Agency reported thousands gathering in Tirana under the slogan "Albania is not for sale." TV Klan presenter Leftioni Peristere flagged AFP wire coverage of the demonstrations, which have now stretched into a fourth consecutive day — with police firing water cannons at crowds that included children.
One Albanian, posting a video of the country's stunning Adriatic coastline, put the stakes simply: "Do you know what we are protesting for?"
Another, in a widely shared video, was blunter. "All the blood, sweat, and tears that our people and ancestors have fought for is being sold by a leader who has betrayed us," he said, calling out Prime Minister Edi Rama by name.
Protest crowds have echoed that sentiment, chanting "Thieves!" and demanding Rama's arrest by SPAK — Albania's Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutors, who opened a formal investigation into the project this week.
Ivanka told Senra the resort is "the culmination of all of my experience in real estate, all of my travel, a lot of reflection on how I want to live, how I think people increasingly want to live."
Albanians, it seems, have thoughts about that too.
Jared Kushner's luxury resort hit with anti-corruption probe as protests explode: report
Nicole Charky-Chami
June 1, 2026
RAW STORY
Jared Kushner looks on during a swearing-in ceremony of Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C. on May 6, 2025.
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Nicole Charky-Chami
June 1, 2026
RAW STORY
Jared Kushner looks on during a swearing-in ceremony of Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C. on May 6, 2025.
REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
Jared Kushner's luxury coastal resort project in Albania was under investigation by the country's anti-corruption prosecutors amid growing protests against the development, Politico reported on Monday.
President Donald Trump's son-in-law is the head of Affinity Partners, a private equity firm behind a project slated to include 10,000 hotel rooms located "on the uninhabited Adriatic island of Sazan and several hundred hectares of the Vjosa-Narta protected landscape, a sensitive coastal wetland area home to flamingos, seals and sea turtle nesting sites," according to Politico.
Albania's special anti-corruption prosecution office, SPAK, said it had launched a probe into the change in land ownership in 2024, as questions have been raised about the land's protected status.
Kushner is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and has a multi-billion dollar real estate portfolio. He has been serving as the president's special envoy for peace and has been involved in negotiations involving Iran, Gaza and the war in Ukraine, which has raised eyebrows among critics over potential conflicts of interest.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has confirmed to Politico that the negotiations around the project were ongoing. He has "denied that the project encroaches on a protected wildlife reserve and said that the final proposal has yet to be submitted and the environmental study is not complete."
Protests have broken out in the country over the project since May, with people calling for the project to be halted and to protect the area. Activists have also called for the prime minister to resign.
Some of the demonstrations have become violent.
"Footage emerged — after protests Saturday — of private security guards appearing to assault and then drag a protester along a cliff, while threatening other demonstrators who attempted to remove fences and halt construction," Politico reported.
Jared Kushner's luxury coastal resort project in Albania was under investigation by the country's anti-corruption prosecutors amid growing protests against the development, Politico reported on Monday.
President Donald Trump's son-in-law is the head of Affinity Partners, a private equity firm behind a project slated to include 10,000 hotel rooms located "on the uninhabited Adriatic island of Sazan and several hundred hectares of the Vjosa-Narta protected landscape, a sensitive coastal wetland area home to flamingos, seals and sea turtle nesting sites," according to Politico.
Albania's special anti-corruption prosecution office, SPAK, said it had launched a probe into the change in land ownership in 2024, as questions have been raised about the land's protected status.
Kushner is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and has a multi-billion dollar real estate portfolio. He has been serving as the president's special envoy for peace and has been involved in negotiations involving Iran, Gaza and the war in Ukraine, which has raised eyebrows among critics over potential conflicts of interest.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has confirmed to Politico that the negotiations around the project were ongoing. He has "denied that the project encroaches on a protected wildlife reserve and said that the final proposal has yet to be submitted and the environmental study is not complete."
Protests have broken out in the country over the project since May, with people calling for the project to be halted and to protect the area. Activists have also called for the prime minister to resign.
Some of the demonstrations have become violent.
"Footage emerged — after protests Saturday — of private security guards appearing to assault and then drag a protester along a cliff, while threatening other demonstrators who attempted to remove fences and halt construction," Politico reported.
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