San Francisco Frontiers - Albanians step up protests over Trump-linked property development

Answering a call from environmental organisations, activists from across the country and local residents flocked at midday to the Vjosa-Narta lagoon, around 150 kilometres (90 miles) southwest of the capital Tirana.

It was the latest in a series of protests against a project whose cost is estimated at around four billion euros ($4.6 billion), linked to US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner.

"The whole of this marine area is a protected zone. To destroy it would be fatal for this region's biodiversity," one protester, Emiljona Puja, a finance worker, told AFP.

Protesters gathered on a sandy beach facing azure waters, some waving red Albanian flags, others carrying inflatable flamingos -- the movement's symbol -- while chanting: "Cancel the project!"

Later in central Tirana, crowds staged the biggest demonstration yet against the project, marching to the government headquarters with placards reading: "Ivanka go home" and "Albania is not for sale," AFP reporters saw.

Unrest broke out in the reserve during an initial protest in late May against preparatory onsite work during installation of barbed wire to cordon off the area. The barbed wire has since been removed.

People rushed there after seeing videos on social media showing construction work and bulldozers on the beach. Those machines were not there on Saturday either.

AFP journalists observed concrete foundations for a fence on the ground that had also been removed.

- Birds threatened -

Thousands of protesters have been gathering every evening for nearly a week in Tirana to denounce what they view as the planned destruction of entire sections of the Vjosa-Narta Nature Reserve and its conversion into a luxury tourist destination.

According to the plan, developers also hope to transform the uninhabited island of Sazan -- once a secret communist military base -- into a glitzy tourist destination.

The lagoon on the southern Adriatic coast is home to many migratory birds, including flamingos.

"This is a problem not only regarding the transparency of this whole process, but also everything has happened with a complete disregard of the environmental importance of this area," said Denisa Kasa, of the Albanian Association for the Protection of the Environment (PPNEA).

"This area is one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in the Mediterranean," added Kasa.

Prime Minister Edi Rama on Friday downplayed the protests, insisting there was "no reason to worry", and added the project had yet to be approved.

He insisted that "top" world experts were involved in the plan and that the aim was "to make something unique".

K.Hernandez--SFF