The police broke up the blockade organized on July 17 by Students in Blockade and an informal initiative of experts for the preservation of cultural and historical heritage in front of the Belgrade Fair, after some media outlets reported that its demolition had begun, a Radio Free Europe (RFE) reporter reported from the scene.
As soon as they entered the street, the demonstrators were removed from the roadway by a police cordon.
When the crowd took shelter on the sidewalk, a verbal confrontation with the police occurred, after which one woman was detained, and the police took away several other people who opposed her arrest, an RFE/RL reporter reported.
After the police intervention, the demonstrators remained on the sidewalk.
Although the plan for the development of the Belgrade Fair has not yet been adopted, footage has been published on social media showing that one of the auxiliary buildings has been demolished and that the area towards other buildings that make up the Fair complex has been cleared.
The Belgrade Fair management denied on the evening of July 16 that demolition had begun. They stated that two illegal structures had been removed as part of the works to improve the banks of the Sava River.
At the beginning of April, the Serbian Government made a decision on amendments to the Spatial Plan, which expands the area of the "Beograd na vodi" settlement by 327 hectares.
This brings the Belgrade Fair into the scope of this project, which is being implemented by the state in cooperation with the company "Eagle Hills" from the United Arab Emirates.
The amendments to the Spatial Plan for the Fair have not yet passed the legally required public hearing. It was supposed to be held on June 30th, but was postponed due to around 10.000 objections to the presented plan for the area.
On June 19, the opposition movement "Go-Change" submitted more than 2.500 citizen complaints to the Agency for Spatial Planning and Urbanism, as well as a petition demanding the preservation of the Belgrade Fair.
The urban complex of the Belgrade Fair had the status of a cultural monument until 2009. After that, only Hall 1 of the Fair retained that status.
The government is now using this information as a response to numerous criticisms of the demolition and relocation plan.
Opposition parties and non-governmental organizations have also reacted to the urban planning project related to the Belgrade Fair. They point out that numerous legal provisions were violated throughout the entire process.
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