Protesters in Loznica: There Will Be No Lithium Mining in Serbia

Gornje Nedeljice (BETAPHOTO/SASA DJORDJEVIC)

Protesters against the Jadar lithium exploitation project and the Rio Tinto company said in Loznica on June 28 that the international outfit did not belong in Serbia and that there would be no mining of the mineral.

At the end of the demonstration, Marijana Trbovic Petkovic, an activist with the We Will Not Give Jadar Up association, said they had only one demand: the adoption of legislation that bans geologic exploration for and the exploitation of lithium and boron in Serbia. She said the Serbian government would have 40 days as of July 1, when the demand would be delivered, to meet it, and that all of Serbia would be blocked if not.

"We will block Serbia, but we will not inconvenience people in the streets. Now we will inconvenience them. We will block key areas -- railroads... It is much easier to block a railroad than a road," she said right before the start of a march.

Those present at the protest of the League of Environmental Organizations of Serbia carried state and environmental organization flags and carried banners and slogans against lithium exploitation. "Rio Tinto, you will not dig, Rio Tinto, scram from Serbia," the protesters chanted. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said that he wants Serbian citizens to decide whether to open a lithium mine and that this was not a decision to be made quickly.