Protesters flood the streets of downtown Tirana every afternoon, chanting slogans, mainly against Prime Minister Edi Rama, but also against opposition leader Sali Berisha.
What started as a pro-environment protest is fast evolving into a widespread expression of public frustration with the country’s governance and with government corruption. More than 100,000 people are estimated to have taken part in the most recent rallies, and their numbers only seem to be swelling, as the unanticipated backlash from the residents of Zvernec against a large-scale hotel development on their beautiful Adriatic coast, in Vlore in southern Albania – by US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and a group of investors from Qatar – caused a spark that reached all the way to Tirana and is now spreading like wildfire across the rest of Albania, putting the prime minister on the spot.
Until then, Rama had touted the luxury resort project as a “jewel in the crown” of Albania’s tourism industry, in which he is heavily invested as a means of enhancing his country’s growth and securing his own political popularity. He thought that nothing and no one would stand in the way of such a project, which – apart from the financial benefits – would also earn him Trump’s much-coveted favor. However, it took one piece of news footage, in which security guards working for the investors are seen viciously beating a demonstrator protesting against the development along with other village residents and environmental protection groups, to break the dam holding back a wave of anger that is now growing – and not just for the protection of the flamingos that use the lagoon in the area that is under development.
