Railway stations in Belgrade are blocked after protests against the lithium mine

2024-08-10 22:02:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Railway stations in Belgrade are blocked after protests against the lithium mine

Footage of the blockade of Prokop railway station in Belgrade by protesters against plans for a lithium mine

Thousands of protesters marched in Belgrade on Saturday to oppose plans to mine a lithium mine in Serbia.

Zlatko Kokanovi? from the Association "Nuk e japim Jadar" has called on the protesters to head towards the Gazella Bridge in Belgrade, at the same time the largest bridge over the Sava River in the Serbian capital, and then block two railway stations.

He said that after reaching the bridge, the protesters will split into two groups and block Prokop and Novi Beograd (new Belgrade) stations.

"There is no turning back, we are defending Serbia", said Kokanovi?, and he called on the crowd for the protest to be peaceful. "There will be no mines" - is the message that the protesters are carrying forward.

They have gathered at the protest organized by the Alliance of Organizations for the Environment of Serbia, after the Government has not fulfilled the demand of the protesters to adopt a law within 40 days, which prohibits the mining of lithium and the opening of mines in the Jadar river valley, in west of Serbia.

"It seems that we have fallen victim to a future mining colony. We will not allow this. That's why we are here to raise our voice, to disagree, and to protect the survival of our state", said the actress and activist for environmental protection, Svetllana Bojkovi?, in front of the protesters.

Professor Dragana Gjorgjevic, from the Faculty of Chemistry, said that the damage from the mine is irreparable.

“The leftover garbage of the past has been poisonous for centuries, if not millennia. We already have such places in Serbia. But that mine was not as intensive as the one that is being planned today", she said.

The protesters held the inscriptions, "Stop Rio Tinto, you will not dig", "No to mining, exploitation, emigration", "Rio Tinto, leave Serbia".

This is one of the 50 protests that the Serbs have held, starting from the end of June.

The organizers of the protest in Belgrade, Zlatko Kokanovic and Nebojsha Petkovic, have said that they were invited for an interview by the Security and Information Agency in Serbia (BIA), just before the march started.

They announced on their Facebook page that they were released after a short conversation and were warned that the rumored blockades after the protest were illegal, and that they should be prepared to face consequences.

On July 11, the Constitutional Court of Serbia overturned the decision of the previous Serbian Government, which suspended the "Jadar" project of the Australian company "Rio Tinto" in 2022.

Many government officials have declared for the protests, and have agreed with the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vucic, that the main goal of the protest on August 10 is "the overthrow of the Government".

Vucic has repeatedly spoken in positive tones about the "Jadar" project, and has said that the lithium mine should start working in 2026, if "guarantees are provided that the environment and people's lives will not be endangered".

Environmentalists, on the other hand, and part of the public, believe that the consequences are irreversible for the environment. Lithium is used to produce batteries for mobile phones, computers and electric cars.

In 2004, the Rio Tinto company discovered a combination of lithium and boron, in the west of Serbia. The reserves of this metal in Serbia are estimated at 158 ??million tons.

However, the Government led by the former Prime Minister, Ana Bërnabiq, stopped work on this project, after massive protests, and suspended the license for Rio Tinto.

But Serbian officials have brought the project back to life.

Vucic told the Financial Times in June that Rio Tinto has given new guarantees and that the European Union has responded to concerns about environmental standards.

Bërnabi?, now the president of the Serbian Parliament, has said that it will be "abnormal" if Serbia goes ahead with the lithium mine, and that this country has strict standards for the environment.

Rio Tinto previously told RFE/RL that domestic and international experts have confirmed that the Jadar project will be completed safely and to the highest standards.

On August 6, the Serbian Minister of Health, Zoran Lonçar, presented a team of health experts who, according to him, will assess the impact of the lithium mine on people's health.

Some local and foreign experts estimate that the process of lithium exploitation is accompanied by environmental consequences, as well as water and soil pollution./ Rel