CNN Spotlights Revolt in Albania: Thousands Protest in Tirana, Targeting Edi Rama

The weekly newsletter “FAREED’s Global Briefing,” produced by renowned journalist Fareed Zakaria, also covers developments in Albania in its latest edition. Zakaria hosts “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” one of CNN’s most-watched programs on geopolitics and international affairs.

The protest, which has continued for 57 days, was featured in a section titled “Albania’s Flamingo Revolution.”

The published summary says the demonstrations have become one of the largest social mobilizations recorded in Albania since the fall of the communist regime. The analysis emphasizes that the Trump family’s project was the spark that ignited the backlash, but Prime Minister Edi Rama remains the protesters’ main target.

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Albania’s “Flamingo Revolution”

About a month ago, Albanians began protesting against a project to build a resort on an island. The project is backed by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and unofficial peace envoy.

At the time, Helena Smith of The Guardian reported that thousands of people had filled the streets of Tirana for a third consecutive day. Some demonstrators carried inflatable flamingos, used as a symbol of the environmental damage they feared, as calls to block the project intensified.

Since then, the protests have not only continued but have expanded.

Isaac Stanley-Becker writes in The Atlantic that hundreds of thousands of people have joined daily demonstrations against the plans, turning the movement into one of the country’s largest social mobilizations since the end of communist rule 35 years ago.

According to him, the unrest involves allegations of organized crime and drug trafficking, competing claims about foreign influence, as well as an appearance by Kanye West. Participants he spoke with linked the demonstrations to accumulated dissatisfaction with Albanian politicians, who have failed to provide the country with a stable economic foundation. Becker emphasizes that the Trump family sparked the uprising, but the target of the protests is Prime Minister Edi Rama.

The socialist leader came to power in 2013. He criticized Trump in 2016, but has since repeatedly praised the US president.