Sawt Falasteen - Albanian PM rallies support as Trump-linked resort row festers

Opposition to a planned luxury resort linked to US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner has drawn large daily protests for almost two weeks in the Balkan nation.

In late May, local opposition to barbed-wire fencing and bulldozers appearing on a quiet beach in the coastal area of Zvernec -- about 100 kilometres (60 miles) southwest of Tirana -- exploded into a national movement, after videos of violent clashes between demonstrators and private security spread online.

For Fadel Dia, one of the protesters, the luxury resorts were “only the trigger” and in reality “there are many reasons why we are demonstrating here today”.

"For 36 years, we have been ruled by corrupt governments, one after the other. None of these governments has done anything for the Albanian people. They have only enriched themselves and robbed us”, the 26-year-old IT worker told AFP.

But faced with one of the most direct challenges to his almost 13-year leadership, including consistent cries for his resignation and chants of “Albania is not for sale” in front of his office every evening, Rama has remained defiant.

"Albania has never been for sale," he declared in front of his Socialist Party faithful, as his party marks 35 years since its foundation.

Thousands of supporters of Rama’s party holding Albanian and European Union flags greeted his speech with ovations.

Just a short walk away, protesters marched under placards calling for his ousting as chants demanding an end to the resort project echoed off government buildings.

- Many reasons for protest -

Although the fencing and construction vehicles vanished after the clashes, protests have swelled into nightly gatherings of thousands, despite assurances from Rama that the development has yet to be approved.

Alongside calling for the cancellation of the Zvernec project, protesters also want the scrapping of laws that have allowed the government to fast-track projects -- such as Kushner's other planned development on nearby Sazan Island.

With both resorts planned near a key breeding site for migratory birds -- including hundreds of flamingos -- the developments have become a flashpoint for frustrations over perceived corruption in the country.

Senior figures in Rama's government and the leader of the largest opposition party are already facing graft trials on separate issues.

And the special prosecutor's office to combat corruption and organised crime (SPAK) is probing funds used to acquire the land titles and their sale to investors for the Zvernec development.

“We have thousands of problems and that is the reason why they are in the street. What happened in Zvernec was just the tipping point”, 46-year-old tour guide Arben Kola told AFP.

- 'Nothing to worry about' -

Rama has pivoted between downplaying the protesters as misinformed and dismissing the movement as foreign-backed.

"There is no reason to worry as far as there is no project," he told reporters on the sidelines of a summit in Montenegro last week.

Although specific details about both the Zvernec and Sazan plans remain unclear, gushing descriptions from Ivanka Trump and renderings of the proposed resort posted by Kushner have been circulating for years.

The negotiations for redevelopment of the uninhabited island of Sazan -- once a secret communist military base and currently held by Albania's defence department -- are still ongoing.

According to public records seen by AFP, the project in Zvernec, estimated to $4.6 billion, appears to be mainly backed by Qatar-based investors, while the Sazan project is estimated to $1.4 billion.

Rama insisted that “no agreement has been reached regarding Sazan” and that “no strategic investor status has been granted for the most important investment in Albania’s history".

“Negotiations have been ongoing for a long time. These delays are due to the fact that we represent the interests of the Republic of Albania”, Rama said.

But on the streets of Tirana, people expressed little trust in Rama's words.

“Zvernec is a protected area. And they are trying to build a resort and the problem is not that they are trying to built a resort but the problem is the lack of transparency, accountability towards the people”, Kaltrina Hyka from the environmental NGO ECO Albania told AFP.

Y.Zaher--SF-PST