Claim:
Footage authentically shows Albanians vandalizing Jared Kushner’s luxury resort development by pushing a construction crate downhill in June 2026.
Rating:
Rating: Miscaptioned
Context:
The video authentically shows Albanians protesting. However, they are breaking down construction sites in Kakome as part of larger protests against corruption and public access to land. Kushner announced he is investing in a real estate project on Albania’s Sazan Island and its nearby coastline, not the land shown in the footage, although those too have been the subject of protests.
In June 2026, anti-corruption demonstrations erupted in Albania. Protesters also pointed to plans for luxury hotel developments in the country backed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner as another example of government corruption.
Social media users shared (archived) footage they claimed (archived) showed several clips of protesters with Albanian flags breaking fences and pushing construction crates over a hill on what appeared to be forested land, with some posts saying these protests were specifically against Kushner’s projects.
The footage authentically shows protests over land access in Albania, but Kushner’s proposed hotel is not in the region seen in the video. As such, we rate this claim as miscaptioned.
The footage is from Kakome, where residents dismantled barriers and fences to what they called an unjust restriction of access to their lands. According to local reports, the land had been fenced off for decades. Protests took place elsewhere in the country opposing Kushner’s projects and related to wider concerns such as government corruption.
Some of the above scenes were shot from different angles in coverage from Saranda Web, an Albanian news outlet, which shows protests taking place on June 21, 2026, in Kakome. Some of the signage in the video referenced Sazan Island, one of the areas Kushner plans on developing. One sign at the 26-second mark says, “Sazan no for sale!”
According to Ivanka Trump — Kushner’s wife — and Reuters, the planned hotel construction would take place on the peninsula of Zvernec and Sazan Island. Kakome is miles south of this region, albeit along the same southern Albanian coastline.
In March 2024, Kushner posted digital renderings of the proposed projects on Instagram, showing luxury hotel rooms built into a hillside overlooking the sea and along a peninsula.
In a May 2026 podcast interview, Trump shared how she came across Sazan Island as well as the beachfront across from it:
It’s an unbelievable, beautiful 1,400-hectare private island in the middle of the Mediterranean. We were on a friend’s boat and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that’s how we found it. We swam to the islands. We went on a hike barefoot all the way up to the top and we were just captivated and it stayed with us ever since.
And over the course of many years, we developed the opportunity to help realize its potential and transform it, but with a lot of restraint and care because the land is so beautiful that really the architecture has to be fully integrated into it, almost rise from it. You know, it’s not even a business for me despite the scale of it.
We not only have the island, but we have five miles of beachfront directly across from the island. This beautiful peninsula with a lagoon on one side, the ocean on the other, beautiful white sand beaches.
Albanian Daily News, an English-language site based out of Tirana, the Albanian capital, reported the barriers at Kakome Beach had been up for 22 years. Demonstrators said the fences had prevented property owners from accessing their own land and restricted locals and visitors from accessing the beach.
According to Saranda Web’s reporting, the demonstrators said breaking down the fences at Kakome was not the only purpose of their protest, but part of a larger complaint against oligarchs and corrupt government officials who used public property, the coastline and natural resources to benefit the few at the expense of the public.
The New York Times reported wider protests in the country began when a separate video circulated online on in late May 2026, showing a man being dragged away by security guards after protesting the fences erected near Zvernec, around Kushner’s proposed project area. In response, protesters in Tirana reportedly began a “flamingo revolution”, referencing the wildlife in the region.
Some villagers in Zvernec also claim their land was wrongly sold for Kushner’s resort, though Reuters found no evidence of Kushner’s involvement in the sale. Sazan Real Estate Development LLC, the company overseeing the project and partnering with Kushner among other international investors, said Kushner was investing in a personal capacity.
The government canceled licenses of the security companies involved in the May 30 incident and ordered the fence to be taken down, but it did little to quell unrest. The government has denied that the island has been sold, or that any construction is taking place. Many protesters have focused their anger on the Albanian government and not on the Trump family, with some activists saying the international focus on Kushner is hijacking their larger concerns.
For further reading, Snopes has also reported one of Kushner’s properties with multiple building-code violations in Baltimore, as well as his relationship with Saudi Arabia.
Sources:
Bytyci, Fatos, and Edward Mcallister. “Kushner Project Being Developed on Disputed Land, Albanian Villagers Say.” Reuters, 13 June 2026, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/kushner-project-being-developed-disputed-land-albanian-villagers-say-2026-06-13/. Accessed 25 June 2026.
“Google Maps.” Google Maps, https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Zv%C3%ABrnec,+Albania/Kakoma+Beach,+Albania/@40.1806829,19.3322482,9.93z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x1345373cb27c1d69:0xd3a5dc6ca6a925b9!2m2!1d19.412526!2d40.5104551!1m5!1m1!1s0x135b3e06261911f9:0xe53a3d05380029ae!2m2!1d19.9388003!2d39.9261937!3e2?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDYyMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D. Accessed 25 June 2026.
Higgins, Andrew. “Luxury Kushner Project Collides With Albanian Discontent.” The New York Times, 21 June 2026, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/21/world/europe/albania-kushner-project-protests.html. Accessed 25 June 2026.
“Ivanka Trump on Building an Authentic Life .” YouTube, David Senra, 31 May 2026, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhsiMd9ZFNk. Accessed 25 June 2026.
MacGuill, Dan. “Did Kushner Properties in Baltimore Violate Building Codes on Pests?” Snopes, 1 Aug. 2019, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/kushner-baltimore-rodents-rats/. Accessed 25 June 2026.
Palma, Bethania. “FACT CHECK: Did Jared Kushner Go to Saudi Arabia Because It Doesn’t Have an Extradition Treaty With the US?” Snopes, 31 Oct. 2017, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/jared-kushner-go-saudi-arabia-doesnt-extradition-treaty-us/. Accessed 25 June 2026.
“Protesters Tear Down Long-Standing Barrier at Kakome Amid Property Access Dispute.” ALBANIA DAILY NEWS, https://albaniandailynews.com/news/protesters-tear-down-long-standing-barrier-at-kakome-amid-property-access-dispute. Accessed 25 June 2026.
“Shqipëria pa gardhe – të dielën në orën 12 zhvillohet protesta në Kakome.” Saranda Web, 21 June 2026, https://sarandaweb.net/shqiperia-pa-gardhe-te-dielen-ne-oren-12-zhvillohet-protesta-ne-kakome/. Accessed 25 June 2026.
Smith, Helena. “‘We Want a New Albania’: Protests against Jared Kushner-Backed Resort Turn Anger on Government.” The Guardian, 22 June 2026. World News. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/22/albania-protests-jared-kushner-ivanka-trump-resort-sazan-island-anger-government. Accessed 25 June 2026.