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UNDERWORLD (2003)

So the government approved a $4 billion luxury tourism development project covering 2.6 million square meters across the Portonovo coastal area in Zvërnec and nearby Sazan Island. IT IS BACKED BY THE INVESTMENT FIRM LED BY KUSHNER AND IVANKA TRUMP.

The people are angry and are protesting in the thousands because of environmental destruction (The construction cuts straight into the highly sensitive, protected Vjosa-Narta lagoon ecosystem famous for its flamingos) and absence of transparency from the government.

The situation turned explosive on May 30 at the Zvërnec project site when a peaceful protest turned violent. Private security guards clashed with locals and used pepper spray, which accidentally hit state police officers and journalists, too. They also dragged and physically assaulted a protester. This caused protests to start in the capital as well.

The protests have been peaceful. There are claims going around foreign media that protesters burned down the PM house. That’s not true, it’s older footage from another unrelated protest (and it’s the house of former dictator, not PM). However, yesterday, even though the protest was peaceful, the police tried to escalate it by spraying high pressure water on protesters, amidst who were also children. This is unacceptable and breaks international law.

As of now, protests are ongoing and still peaceful. Prime Minister Edi Rama offered to meet with a 20-person activist delegation to negotiate, but protesters completely rejected the invitation, demanding the immediate cancellation of the contracts and the resignation of the cabinet.

Also albanian media have been covering everything up and not talking about the protest or what’s going on. We are hoping for some international pressure on top of the protests and as many eyes on us as possible!

ALBANIA IS NOT FOR SALE