ALBAWABA - A viral video circulated heavily on social media as evidence of widespread protests against a luxury resort proposal related to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump has been discredited, even as real protests have taken place in Albania over the contentious project.
The video, which shows a big throng assembled along a coastline, was shared online with claims it showed recent anti-government and anti-development protests in Albania. But fact-checkers found the video was really filmed in Spain and had nothing to do with the Albanian protests.
AFP Fact Check said the video shows fans of Spanish football club Deportivo La Coruna rejoicing after the team won promotion back to Spain’s top football level after an eight-year absence.
The deceptive posts came days after thousands of Albanians took to the streets to oppose a tourism project said to be connected to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump.
In the capital Tirana and in southern coastal areas of Albania, protesters gathered with placards reading “Albania Is Not for Sale” and “Stop the Project.” Protesters expressed worry over environmental harm and transparency and the potential commercialization of protected coastal regions.
In the coastal area of Zvërnec, environmental activists and local residents protested access restrictions that limited public access to areas of the shoreline.
The proposed development comprises tourism and hotel facilities on Sazan Island, and in the Vjosa-Narta coastline area, a designated natural reserve that has become the subject of a rising political and environmental conflict.
The protests themselves are real, even if the video that went viral is not. They are a sign of growing opposition to the project from environmental groups, environmentalists and local residents worried about the future of Albania’s coastline.
