Groundwork on the development began late last week, sparking mounting public resistance against the project.
Thousands have taken to the streets in the Albanian capital Tirana this week. Protests, which entered their sixth day on Friday, are also planned near the site of the development.
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.”
Other demonstrators held signs protesting the project’s ties to the Trump Administration, Kushner, and Albanian leadership.
Rama offered to meet with opponents of the project and “discuss solutions” earlier this week, but was rebuffed.
“From start to finish there has been a total lack of transparency,” Aleksandr Trajce, the executive director of Protection and Preservation of the Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA), the country’s main conservation group, told to The Guardian. “We have seen no public consultation or public documentation regarding permits, and so now what we are saying is, if they remove the bulldozers, remove the fence and restore the habitats to what they were, then we can start talking.”
