A protest was held today in front of the heavily damaged General Staff building, which was destroyed in the NATO bombing, in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, demanding that the announced construction of a large residential and business complex and hotel on that site be abandoned, which was agreed upon between the government and the company of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US President Donald Trump.
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Members of the "Defend the General Staff" Initiative, which organized the protest the day before the 26th anniversary of the bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, held up large banners reading "Stop the demolition of the General Staff" and "No to the EU, no to NATO" and saying "No way - the demolition will not pass."
A letter of support was read from retired Colonel Zoltan Dani, who, with his crew, shot down the so-called "invisible plane" in 1999, in whose words "the monsters from the West are trying to get to the scene of their crime."
The representative of this Initiative, Ilija Živković, said that "giving the aggressor a memorial site represents an insult to the victims, the highest cynicism and a mockery of the Serbian people," calling for the same rally, at the same place, on April 27, because on that date the General Staff building was hit by bombs.
"Today, 26 years later, we are still at war, this time not armed, but in a war to preserve our history and culture," said Initiative representative Mateja Grujičić.
The initiative organized the signing of a petition to terminate the contract on the land on which the General Staff was built for a multi-decade lease, to return this building to the status of a protected cultural asset, and to turn it into a Memorial Center dedicated to the victims of NATO aggression.
The General Staff Building, numerous experts warned when the public learned about the contract, is one of the most valuable achievements of local architecture, designed by academician and professor of urban planning Nikola Dobrović.
It was recently included in the list of several of the most endangered sites in Europe 2025, in the field of cultural heritage, published by Europa Nostra, a civil society organization, with the support of the European Union.
The General Staff Building is surrounded by some of the most beautiful buildings designed in the 1930s by the "White Russians", emigrants from Russia, after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Right next to it is the old General Staff building designed by Vasilij Baumgarten, while, on the opposite side of Kneza Miloša Street, are buildings designed by Nikolaj Krasnov - the buildings of today's Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Serbian government decided on November 14, 2024, that the buildings of the General Staff and the Ministry of Defense in the center of Belgrade would lose their status as cultural property. By contract, it leased the land to the investor, Kušner's company, for 99 years.
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