Serbian protests escalate over proposed lithium mine

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Serbian activists gathered by the thousands in Belgrade to protest a crackdown on resistance at a lithium mine, in a test of government plans to boost the country’s economy.

Sunday night’s rally, organized by the Eco Guard group, is the latest in a series of actions related to Rio Tinto’s proposed lithium mine – a project that Serbia’s government has hailed as an economic milestone, but which activists and the locals say it would destroy the country. The Jadar Valley region that sits above the largest critical mineral deposit in Europe.

“This protest has a clear political message: there will be no lithium mining,” said Savo Manojlovic, an activist who organized mass blockades in 2022 that shut down parts of the country and forced the government to cancel the mining project. “We should stand with all those who defend him (Jadar).”

Aleksandar Vučić, Serbia’s president and winner of contested elections in December and May, revived the plan this year. In July, it received the support of EU leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and major European car companies, including Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Stellantis.

Lithium is a key component of batteries for electric vehicles, and the government expects the mine to add between €10 billion and €12 billion to annual GDP, which totaled €64 billion in 2022. This would provide a boost to both necessary for an economy where GDP per capita. was less than 50% of the EU average in 2023.

Despite the potential economic benefits, there is widespread public objection to the project.

Tens of thousands of people rallied in Belgrade and across the country last month to oppose a project that some experts say will create significant environmental damage and upheaval for people living nearby.

Some of the activists occupied Belgrade’s train stations, recalling the blockade of major highways and bridges that forced the government to abandon the project in 2022.

Although no arrests were reported on Sunday, since the protests began last month, dozens of organizers have faced police raids on their homes and charges of violently undermining constitutional order, a crime that carries a prison sentence of up to at 15 years old.

“We must defend all activists fighting for land, water, air, democracy and the rule of law,” Eco Guard said in its call for the latest protest.

“Repression against activists is a threat to basic human and civil rights and comes from the same source that endangers the environment in Serbia,” the statement said. “Any civil disobedience will be punished with baseless serious crimes if we don’t stop it.”

Serbian police and the prosecutor’s office, which oversees police handling of the protests, were not immediately available for comment.

Serbs are divided over the benefits of the lithium mine, with activists, including environmental groups, warning of dangers to the country’s environment.

Rio Tinto also clashed with environmental scientists who argued in the journal Nature that the project posed undue risks. The company requested that the article, which it called erroneous, be amended or withdrawn.

Economist Aleksandar Matković, who published an essay arguing against the mine in August, received death threats, which only stopped once he went public and forced the police to investigate the case.

“Vučić probably considers electric vehicles as a condition for the continuation of his authoritarian regime,” Matković said in the essay. “Here we have an absolute fusion between the green transition and authoritarianism. . . (opening) new doors to neocolonialism.”

Aleksandra Bulatović, an activist and professor of criminal law who was questioned by police for more than three hours, said police told her the investigation and arrests were triggered by activists’ social media posts calling for continued resistance against mine.

The police told him that they started taking action after an Eco Guard post on August 15, which said “the following blockades will be organized in several hundred places at the same time. . . and will lead to the total collapse of the system”.

Bulatović said Belgrade has no evidence of any real plot to overthrow the government.

Eco Guard leader Bojan Simišić claimed that Belgrade is doing the West’s bidding.

“Vučić is a delivery unit,” he said. “The vices support him in a crisis. We are funded by membership only and operate on a shoestring. We all have day jobs. We are not supported by any embassy at all. No support from the EU. No support from the west.”

Activists insist they will continue their protests “until victory” against the projects. “It won’t be me,” they added in the Aug. 15 post.