BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbia’s ruling party says the country has lost a major opportunity for foreign investment after a company founded by Jared Kushner withdrew from plans to redevelop a prominent site in the capital, blaming protests and political pressure for driving investors away.

Affinity Global Development, a U.S.-based firm founded by Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, told the Wall Street Journal last week that it was abandoning a project to build a luxury hotel, apartments, retail space and offices on the grounds of the former Yugoslav army headquarters in Belgrade, according to Reuters.

The firm had signed a 99-year lease with the Serbian government last year, with backing from President Aleksandar Vucic, but the plan quickly became controversial.

Opposition intensified after the project was linked to a corruption scandal and triggered street protests by Serbs who argue the bomb-damaged complex should be preserved as a memorial to those killed during NATO’s 1999 air campaign.

That bombing campaign aimed to halt Serbian forces attacking areas of Kosovo, which was part of Serbia at the time.

Last week, Serbian prosecutors indicted three officials, including a government minister, over their role in stripping the buildings of protected status earlier this year. Prosecutors allege the move, which cleared the way for redevelopment, was carried out illegally.

Milos Vucevic, head of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), said the backlash sent a damaging signal to international investors.