Protection announcement in November 2024 preceded protests and prosecutions

The sequence began in November 2024, when the General Staff building in Belgrade was announced as no longer protected from development. A tower bearing Donald Trump’s name was proposed for the site.

The episode’s summary attributed the intervention to Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić:

“Serbia’s authoritarian president personally intervened to remove the protection of a historic landmark – then came protests and prosecutions.”

Protests and prosecutions followed as opposition to the plan mounted. The proposed tower was never built.

The Trump family said it had not sought or received political favours in Serbia. The family said all it ever wanted to do was transform the site into “a symbol of healing and reconciliation”.

In his conversation with Helen Pidd, investigations correspondent Tom Burgis said:

“This isn’t just about the fate of a building, important though that kind of monument to Serbia’s history is. It’s about what is happening to the world when the US president is open for business.”

General Staff building was designed to resemble a canyon of the Sutjeska River

The Guardian’s Today in Focus episode described the General Staff building as standing in the heart of Belgrade, near the banks of the Danube. The episode said the building was built in the 1960s and embodied “the difficult history of Serbia.” The building was designed to resemble a canyon of the Sutjeska River, where one of the most significant battles of the Second World War was fought.

The Guardian’s Today in Focus segment on Serbia, titled The people of Serbia v the Trump family, was presented by Helen Pidd with Tom Burgis and produced by Eli Block. Sami Kent and Homa Khaleeli were executive producers. The Guardian listed the release slot as “Wed 21 Oct 2026 04.00 CEST”.

The episode closed by asking: “But what does the murky tale of the Trump tower that was never built tell us?”

MSI previously reported that Vučić personally pushed for removal of the General Staff building’s development protection. The Today in Focus account revisits that intervention and reports that the proposed tower was never built.