'There's an oily smell' - Belgrade's problem with filthy air is proving hard to shift

When the Prime Minister Džemal Bijedić promised to clean Yugoslavia's air at a conference in Belgrade in 1974, a reporter from the New York Times wrote that there was little hope of early relief for residents, who felt the pollution was getting worse. "The choking, sulphurous atmosphere of Belgrade and several other major Yugoslav cities reddens eyes, shreds nylon stockings and ruins pianissimo passages in the concert hall because of the nearly continuous coughing it causes in audiences," the writer said.

- Ajit Niranjan

Residents of Belgrade are still holding their breath. "I have asthma and it's killing me," said Dejan, 40, a graffiti artist who runs a paint shop in the industrial Palilula district. "It's not smog, man, it's a black fog. You cannot see." 

The air in the capital of Serbia, a country of 7 million in line to join the EU, is worse than in almost any other city in Europe, with five of the 15 most polluted districts, a Guardian analysis based on European air quality data has revealed. Foul coal plants, vast landfills, old vehicles and bad heaters spew a cocktail of toxic particles.

In one of its first attempts to protect children, the city put out a tender last month for 11,500 air purifiers for schools and kindergartens.

In doing so, the city was admitting it could not solve the problem, said Milica Jablanović, a councillor with an opposition green party. In winter, when people burn more fuel and layers of warm air trap toxins near the ground, the city is smothered by smog.