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Thousands have blocked roads in Serbia in an anti-government protest against two new laws that environmentalists say will allow foreign companies to exploit local resources.
The Serbian government has offered mineral resources to companies, including China’s copper mining company Zijin and mining giant Rio Tinto. Green activists say the projects will pollute land and water in minefields.
The protest poses a growing problem for the ruling People’s Progressive Party, led by President Aleksandar Vucic ahead of next year’s parliamentary and presidential elections.
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Thousands gathered on the main bridge in the capital, Belgrade, chanting “Rio Tinto, get off the Drina River”.
They held placards reading: “Stop investors, save nature”, “We do not give away Serbian nature” and “For land, water and air”. Others currently have a cross on which was written “Constitution”.
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Roadblocks have erupted across Serbia, including the second largest city of Novi Sad, in western Serbia in Sabac, Uzice and Nis in the south, and in Zajecar in the east.
“The reason (for the protest) is to protect our land, water and air. We don’t want them sold cheaply,” Stefan, a student protesting in Belgrade, told Reuters.
Rio Tinto has promised to adhere to all domestic and European environmental standards, but environmentalists say the $ 2.4 billion lithium mine it plans will irreversibly contaminate the area’s drinking water.
Protesters are angry about a referendum law passed last month that will make it harder for people to protest polluting projects, as well as a new expropriation law that makes it easier for the state to acquire private land.
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President Aleksandar Vucic posted a photo on his Instagram account of the village of Gorne Nedelice, where Rio Tinto has already begun buying land for its future lithium project.
Vucic said that once the environmental impact test of the project is over, he will call a referendum to allow people to decide whether it should be implemented.
“Everything we build today we leave to our children,” Vucic wrote on Instagram.
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