Hundreds demonstrate in Belgrade against Jared Kushner’s planned hotel complex, opposing a new law that fast-tracks demolition of a historic army headquarters.
BELGRADE: Hundreds demonstrated in Belgrade on Tuesday against plans to demolish a former army headquarters for a luxury hotel complex backed by Jared Kushner.
The student-led protest followed parliament’s approval of a special law classifying the redevelopment as an urgent project with faster permit access.
Kushner’s Affinity Partners signed a 99-year lease for the site in 2024 after authorities removed its protected cultural asset status.
The project was suspended in May amid an investigation into allegedly falsified documents used to lift the site’s protection.
The building’s demolition is sensitive because NATO strikes hit the 60-year-old headquarters during the 1998-99 Kosovo war.
Student demonstrator Valentina Moravcevic told N1 television that the government had passed a special law to legalise its crime.
She added that protesters would not allow the destruction and were defending their history and cultural heritage.
Eagle Hills, a UAE-based property developer, is the project’s second partner and has faced previous public criticism for large-scale redevelopment along the Sava River.
President Aleksandar Vucic already faces widespread protests following last November’s deadly railway station disaster that many blame on corruption. – AFP
