Opposition Party: Government Crossed Red Lines

Milos Jovanovic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

The president of the New Democratic Party of Serbia, Milos Jovanovic, said on Oct. 9 that a parliamentary session on lithium mining was, in his eyes, laying the political groundwork for venting popular discontent, adding that it was successful, having unveiled the government’s intent to  carry on the lithium project.

Speaking for N1 TV, Jovanovic said that his party was prepared to support the environmentalists in their plan to radicalize protests, adding that “all the red lines have been crossed, and the citizens have been stripped of the state,” while the authorities, “blinded by power,” can no longer act rationally.

The opposition party leader said that arguments against lithium mining were clearly articulated during the parliamentary sitting on lithium, resumed on Oct. 9.

As he put it, when the institutions supposed to protect Serbian citizens, including the interior ministry and others, worked for the regime, not for the state, there were only two options left. “You either start a fight outside the institutions, which may take as long as it may, assuming various forms, which does not depend on us, but rather on the authorities, or you can accept to be the flock for fleecing. There is no other way,” Jovanovic said.