Cell Tower Dispute Pushes Mikuljana to Kursumlija Town Hall
Mikuljana residents gathered outside Kursumlija Town Hall at nine over a roughly 34 meter cell tower. Without answers, they plan to block the Nis-Pristina highway at 3pm.
Residents of the Mikuljana neighborhood gathered on Wednesday, August 5, at nine in the morning outside the Kursumlija municipal building, demanding a halt to construction of a mobile phone base station being built among family homes. For the same day, at 3pm, they also announced a blockade of the Nis-Pristina highway near the Kastrat interchange, unless they get answers from the authorities by then.
Both gatherings were reported to police, and organizers say the protest will be peaceful. Residents have kept Dr Voja Stojanovic Street closed since July 29, when preparatory works began on the disputed lot. The gathering outside the municipal building marks the first time this group has left its own neighborhood to demonstrate in front of local government.
A 34 meter pole on a street of single story homes
According to residents, the base station, including its foundation and antenna, would stand about 34 meters tall. Family homes, mostly single story and one story, surround the planned site.
“This is a densely populated area, with family homes, mostly single story and one story. Most buildings are no taller than five to six meters, and the base station itself, with its foundation and antenna, would be about 34 meters tall,” said Mikuljana resident Aleksandar Agatonovic.
That is roughly six times taller than the highest roofs on the street. Residents say they are not against expanding the mobile network, only against this particular site, and that during the public hearing they proposed a location outside the settlement that was not accepted. They have collected more than 100 signatures against construction on the current lot.
Why was the site rejected in 2023, then approved in 2025?
The core of the dispute is not technical but administrative, and centers on two opposite rulings on the same question.
“In 2023, at a municipal session, it was decided that the location was not suitable for construction. Only for it to be decided, in 2025, that it was suitable, even though nothing had changed on the ground,” Agatonovic said.
Residents say the municipal service rejected the request for that lot in 2023, then issued location permits for the antenna pole in 2025. Over the circumstances surrounding the site selection, they have filed a criminal complaint against unknown persons, moving the matter from municipal offices into the prosecutor’s hands. Neither the Kursumlija municipality’s response to these claims nor the investor’s position was included in the announcements of the gatherings.
What residents are demanding
- a halt to works at the current location
- consideration of an alternative site outside the most densely populated part of Mikuljana
- an explanation for why the assessment of the same lot changed within two years
- a review of the complete documentation and permitting process
“This is a registered gathering, and we are blocking until our demands are met, until it’s established why the decision changed and why this particular location was chosen and not some alternative,” Agatonovic said.
Residents also said that if they get no answers from domestic institutions, they will turn to the company’s headquarters abroad through its compliance and sustainability channels. It is a move local blockades rarely make, and it signals the group is counting on pressure from beyond the municipal framework.
Eighth day of the dispute, and the protest’s first move
The timeline is short and moves in one direction only. Works began July 29, the street was closed the same day, the blockade entered its fifth day by August 3, and on the eighth day it spread from the neighborhood street to the municipal building, with the highway blockade now announced. Each step has gone a degree further than the last, and no demand has been withdrawn along the way.
The planned blockade at the Kastrat interchange also changes the nature of the dispute. A closed neighborhood street affects a few dozen households, while the southbound highway carries August transit traffic with no alternate route of the same capacity. What started as a local dispute over a single lot is becoming a question that someone beyond Kursumlija will have to answer.
The next move rests with the Kursumlija municipality and with the prosecutor’s office where the complaint was filed. Residents say they will not reopen the street until it is established who changed the assessment of a location that had already been rejected once, and on what grounds.
