Hundreds of people gathered in Serbian capital Belgrade to protest against US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, forming a human shield around a bombed-out military complex, destroyed in a 1999 US-led NATO bombing campaign.

Kushner has planned to build a $500-million luxury hotel complex around the premises, which was once the Serbian Ministry of Defence and Army headquarters.

Why are Serbians opposed to the hotel?

According to the Guardian, many Serbs view the dilapidated army complex, which was destroyed during the Kosovo conflict, as a symbol of pride and a tribute to those who died during the bombing. They consider it to be a monument commemorating Yugoslav-era modernist architecture.

“This is a warning that we will all defend these buildings together,” one of the protesters told the Associated Press.

In fact, several Serbs had also opposed the signing of a 99-year lease deal with Kushner’s firm last year, which the Serbian government signed anyway.

Serbia was bombed in 1999 for 78 days to force then-President Slobodan Milosevic to end his crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

Anti-NATO sentiment remains strong in Serbia, and the US role in revamping the military buildings is particularly sensitive among many Serbians, multiple reports claimed.

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What is the Serbian government’s take?

Serbian lawmakers have passed a legislation that would allow quicker administrative procedures for Kushner’s firm Affinity Global Development to construct the hotel, apartments, shops and offices on the site of the ex-army headquarters.

Serbian President Alexander Vucic, who has been accused of being pro-Trump, has argued that the project would boost the country’s economy and ties with the US, which has imposed tariffs of 35% on imports from Serbia.

Albania also approves Kushner’s project

Earlier this year, the Albanian government, another Balkan country, approved a $1.6 billion plan from Kushner’s company for a project to develop a luxury resort on a communist-era fortified island on the Adriatic coast, according to CNN.