Jared Kushner plans to build a luxury hotel on the site of a military headquarters in Belgrade bombed by NATO in 1999

Thousands of protesters rallied in Serbia on Monday against plans to build a luxury hotel on the site of a former army compound destroyed during NATO's 1999 bombing campaign in the country. The project is backed by a firm linked to Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US President Donald Trump.

The planned location for the new hotel in central Belgrade is the General Staff building, a former Yugoslav army headquarters heavily damaged during NATO's 78-day bombing campaign against Serbia and Montenegro over the Kosovo conflict.

The Serbian government last year approved a multimillion-dollar deal with Affinity Global Development, an investment firm associated with Kushner, to redevelop the location. The agreement includes a 99-year lease for a three-block area and plans to build a Trump-branded hotel, luxury apartments, offices, shops, and a memorial for bombing victims. Opposition parties have criticized the deal, while President Aleksandar Vucic and his government have defended it as a move to modernize the capital.

Monday's protest coincided with Serbia's Remembrance Day, marking the anniversary of the start of NATO's bombing campaign on March 24, 1999. Demonstrators gathered around the ruins of the former military complex, demanding the site be restored as a heritage landmark and that redevelopment plans be scrapped. Protesters described the complex as "a monument to NATO aggression" and objected to "gifting it" to American developers.

"The General Staff, which is the cultural center of Serbia, which was bombed by NATO together with America, should now be handed over to America? It's creepy. Ironic and satirical," one protester said.

"It is completely unacceptable," another added.

Videos shared online showed crowds chanting anti-NATO slogans and holding signs that read "f**k NATO and Trump Tower" and "we will never forget," alongside the dates of the 1999 airstrikes. Protesters waved Serbian flags, as well as banners opposing NATO and the EU. Some demonstratorswavedflags from Russia, China, North Korea, and Palestine.

READ MORE: Serbia blames US deep state for mass protests

Monday's protests came amid the ongoing student-led anti-corruption movement in Serbia, sparked by the collapse of a canopy at the Novi Sad railway station last November that killed 16 people. The incident led to mass outrage and the resignation of several senior officials, including Prime Minister Milos Vucevic. Demonstrators have since demanded broad political reforms.

Serbian authorities have blamed the protests on foreign interference, accusing opposition groups of collaborating with Western, Croatian, and Albanian intelligence services to try to topple the government.

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(RT.com)