Protests in Albania grow over Jared Kushner-backed luxury resort

Protests in Albania over a proposed luxury resort backed by Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner , are set to intensify after opponents rejected an offer from the country’s prime minister “to discuss solutions”. Thousands took to the streets of Tirana for a third straight day on Wednesday, some of them brandishing inflatable flamingos in a nod to feared environmental damage, amid mounting calls for the project to be blocked. Protests are also planned for the south of the country, where groundwork on the $1.6bn (£1.19bn) complex recently began in an area long seen as one of the Mediterranean’s most environmentally sensitive. “From start to finish there has been a total lack of transparency,” said Aleksandr Trajce, executive director of the country’s leading conservation group, the Protection and Preservation of the Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA). “We have seen no public consultation or public documentation regarding permits, and so now what we are saying is, if they remove the bulldozers, remove the fence and restore the habitats to what they were, then we can start talking.” Jared Kushner’s firm has begun groundwork on a new resort in Albania. Photograph: Gian Ehrenzeller/EPA The prime minister, Edi Rama, who has defended the development as a milestone in the tiny Balkan country’s trajectory from Stalinist state to high-end holiday destination, proposed on Tuesday that he meet protesters in an attempt to break the logjam. …