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Well, across Albania, thousands of protesters gathered multiple times this week in an escalating opposition to a luxury tourism development linked to US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. And this is over concerns that it can damage one of Albinia's most sensitive coastal ecosystems. The demonstrations gathered in the capital Tana carrying banners demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Eddie Rama and calling for the cancellation of the plan. Local media call the movement a flamingo revolution as campaigners seek to keep construction out of one of Albania's most ecologically important coastal zones.
We are here to ask the government to surrender to all these people because they uh infringed the law by interfering in one of the last protected area in our country that is Vernet Na Lagoon. Environmental groups say that the dispute is about far more than a single resort project. The proposed development estimated at around 1.2 to 1.4 billion euros would include several luxury hotels along the southern coast and the transformation of Saan Island as well as the protected Viosan. Now Vioana is one of the Mediterranean's last largely intact coastal ecosystems and serves as the critical habitat for wildlife including flamingos, migra birds,
Mediterranean monk seals and nesting loggerhead sea turtles. Albania's bird protection group say that this area in the country's only nesting site for flamingos with as many as 7,000 birds passing through annually. Protest intensified after footage emerged showing preliminary construction activity and bulldozers operating near the protected area. Prime Minister Edama has defended the investment, arguing it would help transform Albania into a major tourism destination and bring significant economic benefits.
