Overview
- Protests entered their third and fourth nights on Wednesday, drawing thousands to Tirana where demonstrators carried flamingo symbols and demanded that heavy machinery and fencing be removed from Sazan and the Vjosa‑Narta wetlands.
- Albania’s special anti‑corruption prosecutor (SPAK) has opened a formal probe into land titles and funding tied to the project and has seized assets of people linked to the scheme, creating a new legal exposure for developers.
- Developers pushed excavators onto the site in late May and installed fences, actions that triggered clashes with private security, several arrests and the temporary suspension of some police and security licences.
- Prime Minister Edi Rama has publicly defended the investment as vital for growth and said environmental studies are under way, while critics point to 2024 rule changes that fast‑tracked 'strategic investor' approvals and limited public disclosure.
- Conservationists warn the plan would damage a sensitive marine and wetland ecosystem that supports flamingos, monk seals and nesting sea turtles, and observers say the controversy could shape Albania’s land‑privatization disputes, EU accession politics and diaspora mobilization.