About 200 protesters today tore down metal fences and barbed wire around a plot of land on Albania’s Adriatic coast where luxury hotels are planned to be built in a protected area near Avlona.
Unrest has been raging for weeks in Albania, where protests are taking place against a tourism development plan by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump.
Today, residents of the village of Riol, located in an area of sandy beaches and pine forests in northwestern Albania, protested another project, saying it is being built on their confiscated land.
Protesters waved Albanian national flags and chanted “Revolution” as they tore down the fences. There were minor clashes with the police, but the police did not prevent the protesters from tearing down the fence.
“The protests will not stop until the residents of Riol village are compensated. We are 200 families whose land has been seized,” said Zeke Nicole Sulani, 56, one of the landowners who have been protesting for months.
An Albanian company is developing a five-star luxury tourist resort in the area, and the project has been granted “special investor status” by the Albanian government.
“What is happening in this country is madness,” said Nikolin Markpalai, 60, another local landowner. “We asked the investors to come and have a consultation with the residents, but they refused. Do they think they can take all this wealth without blood?”
