BELGRADE (Reuters) – Hundreds of Serbian environmental activists on Thursday blocked Belgrade’s city centre, demanding a moratorium on lithium mining and exploration, following authorities’ decision to revoke permits for Rio Tinto and its $2.4 billion lithium project in the Balkan country.
The anti-mining protests that started last November have become a headache for the ruling Progressive Party and its leader, populist President Aleksandar Vucic, as they erode their popularity ahead of an April 3 general election.
Last week, bowing to popular dissent, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic’s government revoked the global mining company’s exploration licences. But protesters led by the Kreni-Promeni (Move-Change) civic group demanded the parliament adopt a 20-year-long moratorium on lithium mining.
“We insist that the exploration and mining of lithium and borates is solved in a legally appropriate way, otherwise we believe Rio Tinto could be brought back after elections,” Savo Manojlovic, the protest leader, told Reuters.
To bolster economic growth and revenues, the Serbian government has offered mineral resources to foreign investors including China’s Zijin copper miner and Rio Tinto, but green activists say the mining projects will cause more pollution.
“My conscience is not allowing me to surrender Serbia … to corporations that are ruling all governments across the world including ours,” said Snezana Djordjevic, a protester from Belgrade.
Earlier in the day, the Tanjug news agency quoted the country’s mining and energy minister Zorana Mihajlovic as saying the government has “put an end to the Rio Tinto project,” but that the demand about the moratorium on lithium mining should be debated after the April election.
“Serbia must find a common language between environmental protection and (industrial) development. … If the whole world can (develop), so can we,” Tanjug quoted Mihajlovic as saying.
Serbia is one of Europe’s most polluted countries and will need billions of euros to meet the European Union’s environmental standards if it wants to join the bloc.
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
