Serbia: Anti-mining protesters bring Belgrade traffic to halt over lithium extraction plans

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Thousands of demonstrators blocked Belgrade’s Gazela bridge along the E75 motorway, on Saturday, to protest against the expansion of mining company Rio Tinto in Serbia.

Previous protests and actions to block roads had resulted in Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic temporarily halting the work carried out by the mining group. However, protest organisers are demanding the government terminate all cooperation with foreign mining companies, after Rio Tinto signed a set of agreements with the Serbian authorities that enable them to exploit the country’s lithium resources.

Rio Tinto is planning to open a lithium mine in the west of Serbia, one of Europe’s few countries to have large reserves of the mineral. The company has already started purchasing land from farmers despite many residents in the Jadar region strongly opposing the extraction. Other foreign mining companies are also looking at Serbia’s natural resources as a potential investment.

The metal, used to produce batteries for electric vehicles, is a key resource for the global transition to green energy. The planned project is also seen as an important source of future employment in Serbia. However, amid concerns over potential harm to local biodiversity and the environment, the project has faced major opposition from the public. President Vucic has said the project would need to secure popular support and conform with environmental regulations before being allowed to go ahead.

SOUNDBITES:

SOT, Pavle, Protester (English): “We believe that any decisions about the exploitation of lithium or any other natural resource must be made by the people of Serbia themselves. So, we stand here against the large capital companies that try to exploit the lithium here and sell it abroad. We stand against the regime which enables them to do it. We stand against the European Union, which tries to force these decisions upon us, and we stand against any other foreign investor from any country in the world that wishes to come here and deny the democratic will of the people.”

SOT, Jorgos, Protester : “We hope to keep up the pressure, so that, not only that Rio Tinto gives empty promises, that not only that they say they will stop the project, that we will keep up pressure to make them actually pull back and show that we’re serious and that we will not allow them to destroy Serbia.”

SOT, Kaca, Protester (Serbian): “The digging they (Rio Tinto) did in the exploration and research left terrible consequences. We have cousins living in that area. It is horrific. The grass doesn’t grow there any more.”

SOT, Biljana, Protester (Serbian): “They won’t stop in Jadar. They will occupy the whole of Serbia and turn it into Sahara. That’s their target. Serbia is a world colony for the worst human junkyard. I wonder why they didn’t go to Germany to dig lithium instead of coming here.”

SOT, Aleksandar Jovanovic Cuta, Organiser of protest (Serbian): “This is an acute problem. They (the government) know what they must do to erase Rio Tinto from the city project plan so Rio Tinto doesn’t exist here any more. That’s the first thing to be done and after that, everything else.”

#RioTinto #Belgrade #Serbia

Video ID: 20220115-026

Video on Demand: https://ruptly.tv/videos/20220115-026
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