Thousands of demonstrators in Serbia on Tuesday symbolically formed a human shield around a bombed military complex, vowing to protect it from being redeveloped as a luxury complex by a company linked to the US President’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The youth-led demonstrators drew a red line when they surrounded sprawling buildings in the capital Belgrade that were partially destroyed in a 1999 NATO bombing campaign.
The site faces demolition and redevelopment under a plan backed by President Aleksandar Vucic’s populist government.
The $500 million project to build a high-rise hotel, offices and shops on the site has faced fierce opposition from experts at home and abroad, as well as from the Serbian public.
But last week, Serbian lawmakers passed a special law that paves the way for construction despite legal obstacles. Vucic’s pro-Trump government says the project will boost the economy and relations with the US administration, which has imposed 35% tariffs on imports from Serbia. It also imposed sanctions on the oil supplier monopolized by Serbia and controlled by Russia.
However, critics say the building is an architectural monument, seen as a symbol of resistance to the US-led NATO bombing that is still widely viewed in the Balkan country as unjust “aggression”.
The Serbian government stripped the complex of protected status last year and signed a 99-year lease agreement with Kushner-linked Affinity Global Development in the United States, but the redevelopment project has been called into question after organized crime prosecutors in Serbia launched an investigation into whether documents used to remove that status were forged.
The buildings are seen as prime examples of mid-20th century architecture in the former Yugoslavia. The demonstrators demanded that the protected heritage status of the complex be restored and that the buildings be rebuilt. “This is a warning that we will all defend these buildings together,” one student said. “We will be the human shield”
The case has become the latest flashpoint in year-long street protests that have shaken Vucic’s strong grip on power. The demonstrators accused his government of rampant corruption in state projects. The protests began after a concrete canopy collapsed at a train station in the northern city of Novi Sad after it was being renovated, killing 16 people.
Tens of thousands of people commemorated the tragedy on November 1 in Novi Sad. Serbia was subjected to 78 days of bombing in 1999 to force President Slobodan Milosevic to end his campaign against Albanian separatists in Kosovo.
Anti-NATO sentiment remains strong in Serbia, and the role the United States is playing in renovating military buildings is a particular sensitivity among many Serbs.
Earlier this year, the government in Albania, another Balkan country, approved a $1.6 billion plan from Kushner Cos. to develop a luxury resort on a communist-era fortified island on the Adriatic coast.
(tags for translation)Serbia
