As Albania’s so-called ‘Flamingo Revolution’ enters its second month, rumors of foreign interference continue to swirl. But what is the reality? Is a malign foreign power behind the popularity of Albania’s biggest civil society-led protest in 36 years, or is it really Gen Z, powered by social media and frustration?
In 2024, the news broke that Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka, daughter of US President Donald Trump, were set to invest in a multi-billion-dollar project to turn the uninhabited former military zone of Sazan Island and a stretch of pristine coastline into a luxury, high-end resort. While it made waves in local and international media, very few people on the ground in Albania thought it would actually come to fruition.
Fast forward to late May 2026: residents were furious to find a large metal fence topped with barbed wire cutting off Zvernec Beach from public access. Scuffles with private security, including the violent assault of a protester, quickly escalated, and the following day, hundreds of Albanians gathered outside Prime Minister Edi Rama’s office, calling for the project to be halted.
Over the following days, hundreds became thousands, then tens of thousands, and then, according to some estimates, over 150,000 protestors. The boulevard of the capital city became a nightly meeting place for families, couples, friends, colleagues, and Gen Z participants brandishing witty, AI-generated signs, or large pink polystyrene flamingos on sticks, and the images quickly went viral around the world.
But as the protests evolved, so too did the protestors’ demands. While continually calling for the project to be halted and for changes to several laws that pave the way for large-scale developments on public land or in protected areas, citizens started to demand more. They called for the resignation and imprisonment of Prime Minister Edi Rama and his entire cabinet, as well as the whole opposition Democratic Party headed by former prime minister and president Sali Berisha. The entire political elite must go, they said, citing the investigation into Rama’s deputy prime minister, Belinda Balluku, the imprisonment of the Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, and a raft of investigations, charges, and convictions against officials from his party and administration, as well as the opposition. In addition, they demand the installation of a non-political, technical government, key reforms to the electoral code, and, after one year, new elections that should usher in a fairer, more democratic Albania.
Chants that echo through the streets of Tirana include “Albania is not for sale,” “new Albania,” and “Rama in prison, Berisha in prison.”
The protests rattled both Rama and Berisha, and understandably so. This is the first large-scale, decentralized, non-partisan protest in Albania’s democratic history, and the first big call for change since the end of communism in 1991. It is also the first time that people from every side of the political spectrum, including members and former members of both main parties, administration workers, apathetic youth, the elderly, the diaspora and activists from the far right and far left, have banded together to call for change.
Source: envato.com
What started as a protest against perceived land grabbing and the development of Albanian land without consultation or transparency has grown into broader discontent with the state of society. On the boulevard each night, each person will give you a different reason for their protesting. Some are protesting against corruption in every aspect of political and social life. Others are protesting for a lack of proper facilities and drugs in state healthcare. Others protest against an education system in need of reform or a lack of meritocracy in the job market. Others protest against issues with legalizing properties, a lack of media plurality, bad driving, the privatization of beaches, poverty, a lack of drinking water and generations of children, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles and parents forced to emigrate to provide a better future for their families. They have also been joined by tourists, MEPs, international activists, and people from around the world who have come to support them.
And this is what makes it so hard for the government and prime minister to fight against. The rhetoric from the ruling party, headed by Rama, has been messy and fragmented but has largely centered around criticizing individual protestors and alleging foreign influence. The main perpetrator of foreign influence, according to the government, is Iran.
In 2013, Albania agreed to host a group of some 3,000 Iranian dissidents, known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. This made Albania a de facto enemy of the regime in Tehran, and since then, it has been subject to countless and ongoing cyber attacks, as well as public criticisms and attacks from Iranian officials.
And in the first days and weeks of the protest, accounts on X were found sharing misinformation and disinformation about demonstrations. Meanwhile, on Instagram, where much of the content about the protest, including notifications of upcoming rallies, calls for action, and photos and videos of the evening’s demonstrations, appears, many anonymous profiles popped up. With names related to the Flamingo Revolution, Albanian protests, or various patriotic sayings or names, they posted images of the protest and reiterated the protesters’ demands.
Iran has denied any involvement, and protesters, experts and analysts have largely rejected the claims as unfounded and have called on Rama to provide credible evidence to support his claim. Protesters say accounts are set up by citizens fearful of work or personal repercussions if they make their names and faces public.
So far, one woman, a Kosova citizen with known sympathies towards Iran, was banned from Albania for 15 years after she was pictured at the protest. Another protester was accused of being pro-Iranian after he made posts on social media criticizing the US military intervention in Iran.
Rama has also claimed that the protests are driven by a “digital cyclone” pushed by a social media algorithm. But social media algorithms merely amplify content on certain themes, based on what people are interacting with. Like with the alleged Iranian influence, an algorithm cannot force thousands of people to take to the streets, all voicing concerns on corruption, poverty, and inequality that have been raised by international organisations for decades.
As the protests show no sign of abating, Rama insists that those behind the protests – hinting at both foreign actors and domestic, opposition-aligned forces – will be unmasked soon. Meanwhile, citizens pay little attention to what they see as attempts to divert local and international attention away from the core demands of the movement – an end to the political and social system of the last 36 years, and a new, fairer and more prosperous Albania.
