Thousands of Albanians have returned to the streets of Tirana, the country's capital, for a second consecutive weekend, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama and the cancellation of a luxury resort project backed by Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner. The demonstrations, which began in late May under the slogan "Albania is not for sale," have taken on a distinctive visual identity, with protesters carrying oversized pink flamingo sculptures — a reference to the wildlife found in the area targeted for development — and banners reading "Resign." The movement has been dubbed the "Flamingo Revolution."

The project at the centre of the dispute involves two sites on Albania's Adriatic coast: a development on Sazan, an uninhabited island, and a coastal project near Lake Narta, a protected wetland and nature reserve frequented by flamingos and other migratory birds. Critics argue the scheme lacks transparency and that legal changes to Albania's protected areas law, introduced in 2024, have effectively weakened environmental safeguards. The European Union, in its official progress reports on Albania — a candidate country for EU membership — has noted a reduction in the level of environmental protection.

Rama has pushed back against the criticism, telling Germany's DPA news agency in Berlin that protesters were acting on incorrect information. He insisted there is no deal to sell Sazan island and that negotiations remain ongoing for what he described as Albania's first luxury resort. He acknowledged Kushner as one of several potential investors, and framed the protests in geopolitical terms, saying: "Albania has become a platform for anti-Trump anger around the world." He also noted that preliminary exploratory works had been halted and temporary fencing removed from the site, though he attributed the pause to the intensity of public pressure rather than any formal decision.

Rama confirmed that no building permits have yet been submitted for either the Sazan or Zvërnec areas, and said environmental impact assessments would be carried out in due course. His government maintains that limited, environmentally sensitive construction is permissible in the zones in question. Environmental advocates, however, remain unconvinced, pointing to the 2024 legal amendments as evidence of a deliberate loosening of protections to accommodate the project.

The protests reflect broader anxieties about foreign investment, transparency, and the rule of law in Albania, a small Balkan nation of roughly 2.8 million people with a coastline stretching along both the Adriatic and Ionian seas. The involvement of figures close to the US administration has amplified international attention, turning a domestic dispute over land and ecology into a flashpoint for wider concerns about political influence and the fate of protected natural spaces.