Serbia: environmental organizations demonstrate against mining project
On September 11, nearly 5,000 demonstrators demonstrated in Belgrade to denounce a proposed lithium mine.
REUTERS - MARKO DJURICA
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
A lithium mine that would destroy villages and threaten forests and rivers.
The government's new plan is the straw that broke the camel's back after recent air and water pollution problems.
Several thousand people demonstrated at the call of thirty environmental organizations.
A relatively new mobilization for Serbia.
Advertising
Read more
With our correspondent in Belgrade
,
Laurent Rouy
Nearly 5,000 demonstrators denounce the growing list of polluting industrial installations, which even affect
Belgrade
.
Last year, the city was for a few days
the most polluted in the world
.
The air there was foul-smelling, unbreathable.
In the provinces, it is above all the disappearance of rivers to build power plants, and more recently, a lithium mine project, which mobilizes.
Dragan, a 51-year-old Belgradois, would have liked more protesters: “
For people to go out into the streets, something has to happen to them personally.
We have a very weak collective consciousness.
"
The list of ecological problems continues to grow, according to Gordana, a 48-year-old Belgradoise: “
For 5 years, it has been a disaster.
The government is building factories for us that pollute the air.
We used to have a lot of pure water sources, forests, but now there are fewer and fewer.
"
The government tried to weaken the movement
President Aleksandar Vucic did not like the demonstration.
He denounced political manipulation and tried to weaken the movement.
“
The police blocked us to prevent us from going to Belgrade,”
says Ivana, 27, from Cacak
.
Then, they ended up letting us pass, there were three of us buses, that's not nothing.
It was then learned that the police had caused the same problems in other towns.
"
Protesters then blocked a downtown bridge, causing a traffic jam.
They promise to block the whole country if the lithium mine project is not scrapped.
►
To listen
: Toxic waste, an ecological time bomb for Serbia
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Serbia
Environment
Energies