TIRANA – Police in Tirana used tear gas and water cannons to break up yesterday’s protest against plans to build a luxury resort and hotel complex in the highly sensitive Vjosa-Narta coastal reserve and on Sazan Island, it was reported by Deutsche Welle. The project is backed by foreign developers, including Jared Kushner, a son-in-law of American President Donald Trump.
The police stated that at least 18 people were detained, while 12 officers were injured as some protesters threw eggs, rocks and other objects outside the parliament in the capital of Albania.
Interior Minister Besfort Lamallari condemned “the acts of vandalism and criminal violence” against the police, while protesters accused the Government of not listening to their concerns.
Thousands of people who take part in the ongoing wave of anti-government protests in Albania (so-called “The Flamingo Revolution”) are demanding the immediate resignation of the Prime Minister Edi Rama, accusing his administration of institutional corruption, cronyism and selling off national interests to foreign interests.
Tineke Strik, Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA), who headed a European parliament fact-finding mission to Albania, told the Guardian that Albania’s leadership was “playing with fire” by pursuing real-estate venture that “would wreak havoc on virgin coastline”.
“If Rama is really serious about his EU ambitions, he should step back from this trajectory and say to the Trump clan: ‘Sorry, the EU is my first priority. Right now, they’re endangering a process that is so dear to them … they’re playing with fire”, she noted.
