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Thousands of Albanians took to the streets of the capital Saturday for the 42nd consecutive night of demonstrations, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama while protesting both a Trump family-linked luxury development and a concert by controversial rapper Kanye West.
Marchers waving Albanian flags chanted slogans against Rama and West, who now performs under the name "Ye" and whose antisemitic rhetoric has led to bans on his performances in several European capitals.
At the heart of the unrest is a proposed $4.6-billion luxury hotel development tied to the family of U.S. President Donald Trump, slated for Zvernec, an environmentally protected area on the Adriatic coast.
Protesters argue the project threatens a nearby lagoon that serves as a critical habitat for migrating birds, including flamingos, which have become the unlikely symbol of the movement.
The demonstrations have taken on the name "Flamingo Revolution," with many protesters carrying pink plastic flamingos in reference to the birds that migrate to the nature reserve where development is planned.
Developers have also announced plans to transform Sazan, an uninhabited island that once served as a secret communist military base, into a tourist destination.
Opposition to the resort has become a focal point for broader frustrations over perceived corruption and governance.
Critics have raised what they describe as serious doubts over the legality of transactions through which investors acquired the land, and several local residents have come forward claiming ownership based on decades-old property deeds.
Albania's anti-corruption prosecutor's office, known as SPAK, has opened a formal investigation into the matter. Prosecutors are seeking to determine how land in the protected Zvernec area was acquired, how it changed hands and why its assessed value rose sharply over just a few months.
Protesters have demanded Rama step down, citing what they characterize as a lack of transparency surrounding the development approvals.
Albania, which joined NATO in 2009 and has been a European Union accession candidate since 2014, has long grappled with corruption concerns that have complicated its path toward deeper integration with Western institutions.
The consecutive nightly demonstrations reflect a sustained mobilization unusual in scale for the country of roughly 2.8 million people. As the protests entered their seventh week, demonstrators showed no signs of standing down.
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