Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on 18 October rejected protesters’ demands for his resignation.
He said the mass protests threaten not his government but the country’s path towards EU membership, Reuters reports.
Student demonstrations erupted amid anger over corruption, a lack of jobs and poor-quality education. The protests swept through central Tirana and spread to other cities. Demonstrators are demanding the prime minister’s resignation, setting fire to government buildings and banks and hurling paving stones at security forces. In response, police are using tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets.
The unrest has become the biggest challenge for Rama, who has led the government since 2013 and was re-elected for a fourth term last year. Tensions in society rose after several months of peaceful protests against the construction of a luxury resort backed by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
During a live broadcast on Facebook, Rama said the protesters were challenging not the government or the ruling party but the country’s mission. He urged Albanians to decide what exactly they want — disorder or EU membership. As the prime minister spoke, excavators near his office were already clearing away the remains of paving stones ahead of a new wave of protests.
Rama also blamed unnamed “foreign forces” for inciting the protests and for an attempted drone attack on his office. He insisted that young people could not have devised such a plan on their own without outside interference. Meanwhile, the government says it is fighting corruption more actively than ever, and that Albania, together with Montenegro, is leading among Balkan candidates and plans to join the EU by 2030.
According to police, criminal charges linked to offences during the demonstrations have already been brought against 388 people. Dozens of police officers and protesters were injured in the clashes.
What Is Known About the Construction of a Luxury Resort in Albania
- Kushner’s resort is planned for a stretch of wild coastline, forests and wetlands that are home to sea turtles and pink flamingos. The flamingos have become a symbol of the protest movement, which has been dubbed the “Flamingo Revolution”.
- Kushner’s wife Ivanka Trump previously said the idea for the resort emerged after she and her husband saw the coastline during a yacht trip.
- In 2024, Kushner presented the project on social media, publishing an artist’s rendering of the future complex with a hotel, villas, swimming pools and yacht moorings. He did not disclose the amount of his own investment.
- The Albanian government is actively backing the construction. Rama said in the summer that it is a “wonderful” project that will go ahead despite the protests.
- Earlier, Brussels had already urged Albania, as an EU candidate country, to comply with European environmental standards when implementing the project.
- In July it emerged that Albanian prosecutors suspect Miami businessman Artur Shehu — who is wanted at home on suspicion of laundering proceeds from drug trafficking — of forging documents for the land where the resort is to be built.