Thousands of Serbians are protesting against a plan to tear down a former army headquarters to make way for a luxury hotel development linked to Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
On Friday, legislation was passed by Serbian lawmakers to fast-track procedures for Mr Kushner’s Affinity Global Development firm to build a hotel, apartments, shops and offices on the site of the former Yugoslav army headquarters.
A rally was held at the site in the Serbian capital of Belgrade on Tuesday, where 48-year-old protester Teodora Smiljanic vowed to “raise our voice against the law”.
“By passing this law, he (Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic) is aiming to please Trump and curry favour,” Ms Smiljanic said. “Perhaps he thinks that Trump, in return, could lift sanctions against NIS.”
NIS is Serbia’s sole Russian-owned oil refinery. US sanctions imposed on the refinery have raised concerns around fuel supplies during the winter months in the Balkan country.
It is the latest in a string of anti-government protests in Serbia directed at Mr Vucic, which were sparked by the collapse of a railway station roof that killed 16 people a year ago.
Many Serbs see the old army headquarters, which was damaged during a Nato bombing campaign in 1999 amid the Kosovo conflict, as a tribute to those who died. It is also seen as a monument to Yugoslav-era modernist architecture.
Despite protests, Vucic’s government last November stripped the old army compound of its protected cultural heritage status.
The demonstrators, who gathered outside the building and waved protest flags as a “warning” to the Serbian government, are opposed to the signing of a 99-year lease deal with Affinity Global Development last year.
“This is a warning: we will all defend these buildings together. We will become a human shield,” another protester told Ukrainian outlet Mezha.
Opposition politicians have argued that the legislation allowing Mr Kushner’s company to speed up administrative procedures regarding the development is unconstitutional.
But the legislation was nonetheless approved by a governing majority without amendments, with the government arguing it was crucial for good ties with the US.
“He (Vucic) is trying to corrupt Trump,” Zdravko Ponos, a former army chief of staff and now a leader of the opposition Srbija Centar party, told Serbian outlet N1 TV on Tuesday.
Affinity Partners, Kushner’s wider investment holding, did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Reuters on Tuesday.
Ms Kushner, the husband of Trump’s daughter Ivanka, set up Affinity Global Development after stepping down from his job as a White House aide in 2021.
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