Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the Serbian capital Belgrade to protest against the opening of a lithium mine in the Jadar Valley by the mining company Rio Tinto. The protest started at 20:00 (Bulgarian time) and was organized by several environmental associations, BGNES reported.
The protest was organized on the day of the expiration of the 40-day deadline that the protesters set for the Serbian government to adopt a law to permanently ban geological exploration and exploitation of lithium and boron in Serbia
The protest was opened by the actress Jelena Stupljanin, and the organizers announced that the president of the association "Ne damo Jadar" Zlatko Kokanovic, Liljana Bralovic from the Association of Environmental Organizations of Serbia (SEOS), the scientific adviser of the Belgrade Institute of Chemistry Dragana Djordjevic will speak at the protest and the actress Svetlana Bojkovic.
Today's protest will be the last in a series of 50 citizen assemblies that began in late June in Serbia
At the beginning of the protest, Jelena Stuplianin stated that true patriotism is the fight for clean air, for clean water, for clean land to feed all of us in Serbia.
"We are caught up in the conformity that big cities have. We buy fruits and vegetables in the store. But we must not forget that someone there cultivates their fields in order to have food. These people basically live off nature," says Stuplianin.
"Europe itself is turning to the preservation of its nature, and our government wants to sell the most fertile piece of land that people inherited from their ancestors, the heroes of the Battle of Ceres, to turn it into a mine for a company. It wants to devastate it just because an autocrat wants to stay in power," she added.
"How can we believe the fierce campaign for lithium mining today when the same government accuses and insults everyone who disagrees with its interests," Bojkovic said.
"Is this how people love each other, is this how Serbia is loved? It seems to me that they are hiding from us, and we are being sacrificed like some dirty dump. We will not allow this. That is why we are here today to raise our voice. We are not agree with it and defend our survival in our country," she added.
"Surely you don't know this. Aleksandar Vucic uttered the exact same sentence in Visoki Dečani to Bishop Sava that he could not sacrifice the Serbs from the north for a handful of Serbs from the south, and today they were all sacrificed. Why am I telling you this? Because today they were sacrificed people from Yadar, Bor, Maidanpek, and tomorrow you will be sacrificed too!" said Liliana Bralović.
Shortly after 22:00 local time (23 Bulgarian), Zlatko Kokanovic stated that the protesters blocked the Novi Belgrade and Prokop railway stations.
Kokanovic said the protesters would not block other stations in Belgrade. However, he invited the Serbs to blockade other railway stations in the country.
"We invite all organizations that each in their place, where there is a key point, to block it. Serbia must stop to stand up again," he said.
Another protest organizer, Liliana Bralovic, said the blockade of the two stations would last "as long as necessary."
"We will hold the blockade as long as necessary, i.e. until our request is approved. If the police take us away, the blockade will start all over Serbia. It will not stop, regardless of what happens here," Bralovic said .
Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said that at the end of the protest in Terazije Square there was a "serious breach of public order and peace and violations of the law".
"The Ministry of the Interior of Serbia reports that after the end of the protest in Terazije square, there was a serious violation of public order and peace and violations of the law. The meeting itself in Terazije was peaceful and, according to the police, between 24 and 27 thousand people attended it. , but after its conclusion, the organizers acted contrary to everything they wrote in the report on the public meeting, by violating public order and peace and blocking international traffic, thereby endangering the security of citizens. Among other things, according to the prescription of the color revolutions, blocked the Prokop railway station, the most beautiful in this part of the world and the pride of all citizens of Serbia, which this government built," Dacic said.
Hours before the protest began, the interior minister said police, in cooperation with Serbia's Security and Information Service (BIA), had arrested "4 people who planned to attack the police and cause violence and disorder during the protest in Belgrade."
Earlier on August 10, the interior ministry called on the participants of the protest to respect the law on public gatherings. The Ministry of Power threatened that anyone breaking the law "will be sanctioned and prosecuted".
A day earlier, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he had received information from Russian security services that "unrest and an attempted coup d'état are being prepared in Serbia."
"Today we received official information from the Russian Federation, which arrived through official channels. Yes, it is true. We received this information. Counterintelligence (BIA) is dealing with it. People in the government and everywhere else are fulfilling their duties," Vucic said and urged "citizens to keep calm".
On the occasion of this information, the Deputy Prime Minister and former head of the BIA, Alexander Vulin, stated that Vucic is not Viktor Yanukovych and asked him not to allow a coup to take place in Serbia.
"President Aleksandar Vucic is not Yanukovych and I ask him to fight and not surrender, Serbia and history will not forgive him if Maidan or October 5 happens in Serbia and the occupation of Serbia is repeated," Vulin said.
He said he wanted to warn Vucic to stop underestimating the threats to both him and Serbia. He pointed out that the Serbian president should not "repeat the mistake of Slobodan Milosevic and not allow foreigners and local scumbags to take power by force". | BGNES
