The roughly $1.6 development would involve building hotels, apartments, villas, and a marina in the Narta Lagoon area on the country’s western coast, which is home to a wildlife reserve, as well as on the uninhabited island of Sazan, formerly a communist-era military base.
Environmental groups have opposed the project, warning that it threatens a host of long-protected habitats and species, such as the Mediterranean monk seal, the Loggerhead sea turtle, and many endangered bird species, including Dalmatian pelicans and flamingos, according to BirdLife International.
Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama, however, has strongly supported the resort as an opportunity to stoke Albania's rise as a tourist destination.
Groundwork on the development began late last week, sparking mounting public resistance against the project.
Many protesters sported flamingo imagery or props. The birds, for whom the preserve on the Adriatic coast is a key migratory pitstop, have become a symbol of the fierce opposition to the resort—which some have deemed the “flamingo revolution.”
Rama offered to meet with opponents of the project and “discuss solutions” earlier this week, but was rebuffed.
Another protestor said to The Washington Post that the development would be a “wipeout of nature,” while another told the outlet that “Albania is not for sale.”
“It’s an unbelievable, beautiful, 1,400-hectare private island in the middle of the Mediterranean,” she said while speaking with the podcaster David Senra. “We were on a friend’s boat, and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that’s how we found it. We swam to the island, we went on a hike — barefoot all the way, up to the top. And we were just captivated. And it stayed with us ever since.”
This is not the first time Kushner’s business dealings through Affinity Partners, which he created after Trump left the White House following his loss in the 2020 election, have drawn controversy.
Four government officials were charged with abuse of power and forgery in connection with the project hours before Affinity Partners announced the company was pulling out. The officials have denied any impropriety.
Speaking to Politico during the European-Western Balkans summit in Montenegro on Friday, Rama again defended the planned development in his country. "If it was not Jared, they would not give a s— about what is happening in Albania," the Prime Minister said.
TIME has reached out to Affinity Partners for comment.
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