Ecological Uprising Leader Says He Follows Nationwide Rebellion against Miner Rio Tinto

Aleksandar Jovanovic Cuta (BETAPHOTO/EMIL VAS)

After a meeting of the opposition and representatives of association We Won’t Give Jadar Up and the Alliance of Serbia’s Environmental Organizations (SEOS), Ecological Uprising leader Aleksandar Cuta Jovanovic said in the evening on Oct. 14 that he was following “nationwide people’s uprising against miner Rio Tinto.” 

Jovanovic called on citizens to organize blockades across Serbia, saying that people should not be afraid and that all would be provided adequate legal protection, if necessary. 

Speaking to TV N1, Jovanovic said that the Loznica local assembly was bound by the law to hold a sitting by Oct. 23. Considering longtime suspicions that the Decree on Jadar Project would be adopted in a backdoor way, Jovanovic said it had been agreed that all opposition aldermen be present at the sitting whenever held. According to him, the goal is to prevent incorporation of the Decree into a spatial plan for the special purpose area, as it would “give the green light for the project to go ahead.” 

He also said that a protest rally would be held in Loznica on Oct. 16, while one-hour blockades of several bridges in Serbia, which he did not name, would be organized on Oct. 19, noting that the public would be informed timely. 

The fact that the ruling majority MPs refused an open ballot in voting on the bill seeking to prohibit the mining of lithium and boron in Serbia in the Serbian Parliament last week, reflected “their fear of reactions of the people,” he said. The Serbian Parliament sitting devoted to lithium mining concluded on Oct. 10, with the majority of MPs rejecting the amendments to the Law on mining and geological explorations.