Dua Lipa backs Albania's 'flamingo revolution' against Trump family-backed resort, calling protests 'inspiring'

Pop star enters the fray

Demonstrations against a luxury resort development on Albania's coastline have entered their sixth week, drawing vocal support from one of the most prominent figures in the global Albanian diaspora. Dua Lipa, the British-born pop star of Kosovan Albanian heritage, described the protest movement as "inspiring" during an episode of her Service95 Book Club podcast released on Tuesday. Speaking alongside Albanian author and academic Lea Ypi, Lipa said she shares the concerns of demonstrators who have taken to the streets of Tirana daily since late May.

I find it so inspiring to see how much people really care.

The protests, dubbed the "flamingo revolution" by some observers, target a project led by investors connected to Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner. The development envisions widespread construction on Sazan, Albania's only island, as well as an additional 10,000 villas along the Zvërnec peninsula opposite. Both locations are uninhabited nature reserves that host vital ecosystems and wildlife zones for birdlife and other rare species in the Adriatic.

The legal change that sparked outrage

The project was first presented in 2024, but tensions escalated sharply after the Albanian parliament amended stringent environmental legislation in December 2024. The amendment allowed construction in environmentally sensitive areas, effectively removing the legal barriers that would have blocked the development. There is no evidence that Kushner or Trump had any role in the legislative change, but the timing and nature of the amendment drew widespread suspicion.

What I actually find concerning is the principle that the government could just change the law to remove the environmental protection without any kind of public consultation.

The 30-year-old singer, who was partially raised in Pristina and maintains strong ties to the Balkan region, said the issue was structural and that any approach must be "supported by the people." Her intervention marks the highest-profile cultural endorsement the movement has received since it began.

On the ground in Tirana

The wave of protests began after barbed-wire fencing and bulldozers appeared on a beach targeted by the project in late May. Those physical markers of construction became a catalyst for broader frustration over perceived government corruption. What started as an environmental dispute has expanded into a larger political movement, with protesters now demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Rama, a veteran socialist who has led Albania for over a decade, has called the development "a gift to Europe" and "a blessing" for a nation that remains among the poorest in the West more than 30 years after embracing democracy. Despite the growing opposition, he has refused to back down. Members of the European Parliament have warned that Albania's EU accession talks could be endangered if environmental standards are not upheld. Albania had hoped to join the bloc by 2030.

Reaction from activists

Albanian environmental activist Besjana Guri welcomed Lipa's comments, describing them as a "powerful message" directed at the government in Tirana. Guri told AFP that the singer's global platform would draw greater international attention to the controversy.

I am confident that her voice will help bring greater international attention to this fight and amplify the concerns of the people protesting in Tirana.

The project's estimated value varies slightly across sources: figures of 4.6 billion dollars (4 billion euros) and 1.6 billion euros appear in different reports, though the larger sum appears to reference the full development scope while the lower figure may reflect a specific phase. What is not in dispute is the scale of the undertaking, which would be the largest investment in the history of the erstwhile communist state.