Environmentalists to Set up Protest Camp Outside Serbian President's Office

The building of the Presidency of Serbia in Belgrade(BETAPHOTO/Ana Slovic)

Zlatko Kokanovic of the We Won't Give Jadar Up association has confirmed that Serbia's environmentalists will radicalize their protests in the evening of Feb. 10 by setting up a protest camp outside Belgrade's Novi Dvor, where the president's office is located.

Kokanovic told BETA that the Association of Environmental Organizations of Serbia in cooperation with the Get Going for Change initiative, headed by Savo Manojlovic, will be holding 24-hour protests until a law is passed permanently banning the mining of minerals containing lithium and boron.

"In [the village of] Gornje Nedeljice, Rio Tinto is doing business as usual. They've bought another house and six plots [of land]. Last week they continued drilling new holes without any documentation, but [claimed they had authorization from] one Jelena Kojicic at the president's office. Their workers and security [personnel] are still present in the village. The authorities are doing nothing to stop Rio Tinto's activities," Kokanovic said.

According to him, if the government truly wanted to prohibit Rio Tinto's operation in Serbia, such a law could be passed in 24 hours. "However, what has been happening in Gornje Nedeljice over the last several days indicates that there remains an agreement between the authorities and Rio Tinto to continue the Jadar Project. If we want to protect nature and the environment, we have to stop [them]," Zlatko Kokanovic concluded.