Thousands barricaded streets in an anti-government protest dispersed across Serbia rejecting two bills adopted by the government, which environmentalists have warned that will allow foreign companies to extort the country’s natural resources.
The Serbian government offered mineral sources to several companies, including here Zijin copper mine to China and the Rio Tinto Group. Green activists say that the project will pollute the earth and the water of the entire Balkan peninsula.
Rio Tinto promised to respect local and EU environmental standards, but activists remain skeptical, as they argue that the €2.4 billion lithium mine will bring “irreversible damages to drinking water in the area”.
Vucic’s party, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), claims that the protests are politically motivated, ahead of the parliamentary and presidential elections.
President Vucic posted a picture of Gornje Nedeljice, where Rio Tinto is buying off land to begin working on the lithium mine.
Vucic said that as soon as the environmental impact assessment is complete, he will call for a national referendum to let the people decide if they want the project.
“Everything we are building today, we are inheriting it to our children”, wrote Vucic.
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