Jared Kushner plans to construct a luxurious lodge on the location of a navy headquarters in Belgrade bombed by NATO in 1999
Hundreds of protesters rallied in Serbia on Monday towards plans to construct a luxurious lodge on the location of a former military compound destroyed throughout NATO’s 1999 bombing marketing campaign within the nation. The undertaking is backed by a agency linked to Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US President Donald Trump.
The deliberate location for the brand new lodge in central Belgrade is the Basic Workers constructing, a former Yugoslav military headquarters closely broken throughout NATO’s 78-day bombing marketing campaign towards Serbia and Montenegro over the Kosovo battle.
The Serbian authorities final yr accepted a multimillion-dollar take care of Affinity World Growth, an funding agency related to Kushner, to redevelop the placement. The settlement features a 99-year lease for a three-block space and plans to construct a Trump-branded lodge, luxurious residences, places of work, outlets, and a memorial for bombing victims. Opposition events have criticized the deal, whereas President Aleksandar Vucic and his authorities have defended it as a transfer to modernize the capital.
Protest in Belgrade, Serbia, honoring the victims of NATO’s 1999 bombing.We’ll by no means forgive or neglect and yeah, struggle remains to be on b*tches! pic.twitter.com/rv3GofdHyk
— Mario ZNA (@MarioBojic) March 24, 2025
Monday’s protest coincided with Serbia’s Remembrance Day, marking the anniversary of the beginning of NATO’s bombing marketing campaign on March 24, 1999. Demonstrators gathered across the ruins of the previous navy complicated, demanding the location be restored as a heritage landmark and that redevelopment plans be scrapped. Protesters described the complicated as “a monument to NATO aggression” and objected to “gifting it” to American builders.
“The Basic Workers, which is the cultural heart of Serbia, which was bombed by NATO along with America, ought to now be handed over to America? It’s creepy. Ironic and satirical,” one protester stated.
“It’s utterly unacceptable,” one other added.
Movies shared on-line confirmed crowds chanting anti-NATO slogans and holding indicators that learn “f**ok NATO and Trump Tower” and “we are going to always remember,” alongside the dates of the 1999 airstrikes. Protesters waved Serbian flags, in addition to banners opposing NATO and the EU. Some demonstrators waved flags from Russia, China, North Korea, and Palestine.
Monday’s protests got here amid the continued student-led anti-corruption motion in Serbia, sparked by the collapse of a cover on the Novi Unhappy railway station final November that killed 16 individuals. The incident led to mass outrage and the resignation of a number of senior officers, together with Prime Minister Milos Vucevic. Demonstrators have since demanded broad political reforms.
Serbian authorities have blamed the protests on international interference, accusing opposition teams of collaborating with Western, Croatian, and Albanian intelligence companies to attempt to topple the federal government.
