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Billboard blocking endangered bird nests demands urgent removal in Belgrade
🇷🇸 Serbia /Environment & Climate

Billboard blocking endangered bird nests demands urgent removal in Belgrade

From N1 Serbia · () Serbian

Translated from Serbian, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified Ongoing story
  • An environmental group demands the urgent removal of a ruling party billboard in central Belgrade that is blocking access to nests of endangered alpine swifts.
  • The billboard, erected on May 28, prevents parent birds from reaching their chicks, leading to starvation, according to the Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia.
  • The Finance Minister announced the billboard would be removed Saturday, while students and citizens have also joined calls for its removal and filed criminal charges.

A billboard promoting the ruling Serbian Progressive Party's slogan "Serbia Wins" has sparked outrage in Belgrade for allegedly causing the starvation of endangered alpine swift chicks. The Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia has demanded the "urgent removal" of the billboard, erected on May 28 on the Albania Palace.

The society stated that the billboard blocks access to the nests of the strictly protected alpine swifts (Tachymarptis melba), which are located in the building's roller shutter boxes. "Parents are now prevented from reaching the nests, and dozens of chicks have been slowly but surely starving to death for the second day in a row," the society said in a statement. They warned that the chicks, being featherless and dependent on their parents, have survival times measured in hours.

This species nests in the roller shutter boxes on the windows of the mentioned building, so parents are now prevented from reaching the nests, and dozens of chicks have been slowly but surely starving to death for the second day in a row. Adult individuals are frantically hitting the windows from the remaining sides of the building in an attempt to somehow reach their offspring.

— Bird Protection and Study Society of SerbiaDescribing the impact of the billboard on the swift chicks.

The demand for removal has gained support from the Faculty of Biology at the University of Belgrade, protesting students, and local citizen assemblies. The Stari Grad municipality's citizens' assembly has filed criminal charges. A protest in front of the Albania Palace on Friday evening saw calls to firefighters and police to remove the billboard, but they did not receive a positive response.

Finance Minister Sinisa Mali announced on TV that the billboard would be taken down on Saturday. He stated, "I do not know who put up that billboard, but it will be taken down." Mali also criticized those now complaining about the billboard, accusing them of having "destroyed thousands of facades and education" in Serbia. This statement comes after students protested with "Students Win" stickers, which were followed by vandalism and the placement of "Serbia Wins" billboards in high-traffic areas, though not formally attributed to the ruling party.

I do not know who put up that billboard, but it will be taken down.

— Sinisa MaliFinance Minister's statement on the removal of the billboard.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by N1 Serbia in Serbian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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