BELGRADE, Aug. 11 Serbian police have cleared the central railway station and the New Belgrade station of protesters against lithium mining, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said.
«At around 05:30, the police, in strict compliance with police powers, ensured the unimpeded operation of rail traffic, and created conditions for the normal functioning of public life in the interests of citizens,» he said.
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Videos have appeared on social media showing police pushing protesters out of the New Belgrade station.
In 2004, a mineral deposit (lithium sodium borosilicate with hydroxyl) was discovered near the town of Loznica in western Serbia, which was later named jadarite, after the Jadar River. According to experts, about ten percent of all explored lithium reserves in the world may be located there. The Australian-British concern Rio Tinto, whose geologists discovered the deposit, planned to invest $2.4 billion in mining the mineral and producing lithium from it, but in 2022, after mass protests, the Serbian government officially abandoned the project.
The previous evening, opponents of lithium mining in Serbia held a march along the central streets of Belgrade and a rally under the slogan «There will be no mine», and then blocked the bridge on the international highway Budapest — Thessaloniki and the central station in the capital. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, about 27 thousand people took part in the protests, and there were clashes.
According to Dacic, the central station was blocked «according to the scenario of color revolutions.» All those who committed criminal offenses and misdemeanors during the protest will be held accountable, he assured.
Before this, on August 9, President Aleksandar Vucic said that he had received a warning from Moscow about a coup d'etat being prepared in his country against the backdrop of protests against lithium mining.
In July, the Serbian authorities signed a memorandum with the EU on strategic partnership in the field of raw materials, electric batteries and electric cars. According to Vucic, this will bring the republic at least six billion euros in foreign direct investment. In the event of a full production cycle, Serbia's GDP will grow by 16.4 percent, in the first stage — by four percent compared to 2023 (about 75 billion dollars according to the World Bank). Nevertheless, protests by environmental activists have begun again in Serbia, supported by the pro-Western opposition and the media.