Manojlovic and Kreni-promeni cut banner on Albania Palace

Activists from the Kreni-promeni movement, led by Savo Manojlovic, tried to remove a banner from the Albania Palace in central Belgrade on Friday, May 30, 2026. They climbed ladders in Kolarceva Street and used a scalpel to cut the lower part of the banner that was covering nesting chicks, while a team of climbers completed the removal around 8.30 pm.

The action did not come out of nowhere. It followed several days of pressure from citizens, students and the Bird Protection Society, who demanded that the large advertising sheets be taken down from the facade of one of Belgrade’s most recognisable buildings. During the day, citizens blocked traffic in the very centre of the city.

How the action unfolded

Manojlovic used a megaphone from a balcony of the Albania Palace to ask the assembled crowd to move back so the banner could be taken down safely. Only once the area was cleared did the climbers descend the facade and finish the job the activists had begun with a scalpel.

“We cut the lower part of the banner that was covering the chicks,” Savo Manojlovic said.

The Albania Palace stands at the corner of Terazije and Kolarceva, one of the busiest spots in the capital, so any work on its facade is visible to the whole city. That visibility is precisely why the dispute over the banner did not stay a technical matter and took on a political dimension.

What happens after the banner is removed?

For now it remains an open question who will be allowed to place advertising on the facades of protected Belgrade buildings, and under what conditions. Friday’s action showed that citizens are not willing to wait for that question to be settled through the institutions.

Should advertising sheets cover the facades of historic buildings in the centre of Belgrade at all?