Albania's southern coast is among the last undeveloped shores of the Mediterranean. In 2024 the government changed the law on protected areas to allow luxury hotels inside them, and soon afterwards gave a company owned by Jared Kushner, son-in-law of the American president, the status of strategic investor for a resort worth about a billion and a half dollars on the island of Sazan and the lagoon of Zvernec, a nesting ground for flamingos and pelicans. Protests by villagers in early 2026 became, after police violence at the site, daily demonstrations in the capital calling for the prime minister's resignation.
The regional picture: Protest and power in the Western Balkans.
Where it stands · September 2026
On 8 September the protests over the luxury resort project reached their hundredth day. On 13 September they continued, directed against Kushner and Trump. The government has not withdrawn the project. The movement's demands remain those it set in June: the resignation of Edi Rama, a caretaker government of experts for a year, limits on a prime minister's terms, and repeal of the laws on strategic investments and protected areas. The investors have said almost nothing in public.
What the dispute is about
The land. Who owns coastal plots that families have farmed since the communist collectives were dissolved, without titles the state recognises, and whether a protected wetland can be built on.
The law. A status of "strategic investment" lets the government hand over public land and skip normal permits. It was meant to attract capital. Its critics say it attracts those with access to the prime minister.
The investor. Albania has tied its security and its diplomacy to Washington for thirty years. The man who wants the coast belongs to the American president's family. The protesters say that is why the law bent. The government says it is why the project is a vote of confidence.
