Thousands of protesters in Belgrade staged a dramatic demonstration on Tuesday against Serbia’s planned redevelopment of the former Yugoslavian army headquarters, the site destroyed during a 1999 NATO bombing campaign.
The site’s protected status as a cultural property was removed last year, prompting an investigation into alleged document forgery and increasing anger over alleged corruption.
Why is the site so sensitive?
Participants in the student-led rally formed a symbolic human chain around the ruins, which the government has leased for 99 years to Affinity Global Development, a company linked to US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The mob drew red lines on the footpath declaring the area “untouchable”.
President Aleksandar Vucic’s government passed a special law last week classifying the $500 million (€431 million) project as “urgent”, granting it an expedited permit despite legal challenges. Critics call the complex an architectural monument and a symbol of Serbia’s defiance against the US-led bombing campaign. They say replacing bombed-out war relics with luxury towers would erase a painful part of national history that many still see as an unjustified “aggression”.
Prosecutors are investigating whether the repeal was manipulated to clear the way for Kushner’s Miami-based firm and its Emirati partner Eagle Hills, which already oversees major redevelopment along Belgrade’s Sava River.
“This government has decided to pass a special law to legalize its crime,” student activist Valentina Moravcevic told N1 television. “They can now legally destroy this building, but we will not allow it.”
Why does Belgrade want development?
Serbia’s government argues that the Kushner-backed project would strengthen economic ties with Washington, which has imposed tariffs on Serbian imports and sanctioned the country’s Russian-controlled oil monopoly.
The protest is the latest in a year-long wave of anti-government protests over corruption and safety standards. Anger grew further last year after a ceiling collapsed at a railway station in Novi Sad, killing 16 people, an incident widely blamed on crony contracting.
Edited by: Dmytro Lyubenko