Thousands be part of Belgrade protest in opposition to lithium mining

Thousands of individuals in Serbia have protested in Belgrade in opposition to plans to mine certainly one of Europe’s largest deposits of lithium – a vital uncooked materials for electrical automotive batteries.

Activists say the mine would trigger irreversible environmental destruction to Serbia’s Jadar Valley, the place the deposit is positioned.

A licence granted to mining big Rio Tinto was revoked in 2022 following widespread protests within the nation, however the undertaking was restarted final month following a courtroom resolution and authorities U-turn.

President Aleksandar Vucic has insisted that strict environmental security protocols will likely be put in place.

Protesters within the capital chanted “Rio Tinto get out of Serbia” and held banners saying “We do not give Serbia away” as they marched by way of town.

Serbia’s Interior Ministry estimated that between 24,000 and 27,000 folks joined the protest.

Environmental activists additionally took over two of town’s essential railway stations – with some mendacity or sitting on the tracks.

Interior Minister Ivica Dacic stated in a press release that organisers had been “warned” by police that their actions “were not in accordance with the law”.

He vowed costs could be filed in opposition to “all perpetrators”.

Activists need legislators to completely ban the mining of lithium and boron in Serbia, warning of attainable risks to public well being and contamination of land and water.

They had given the federal government a deadline of Saturday to implement the ban.

Last month, Serbia restored Anglo-Australian mining firm Rio Tinto’s licence to extract the mineral within the Jadar Valley within the west of the nation.

Serbia’s authorities stated the earlier resolution to dam the undertaking in 2022 was “not in line with the constitution and the law”.

The EU hailed it as a “historic day for Serbia, as well as for Europe”.

Speaking concerning the revived Rio Tinto undertaking, Green-Left Movement co-leader Biljana Djordjevic stated that activists “fear Serbia will be sacrificed to provide lithium for electric vehicles that pretty much nobody in Serbia can afford”.

Carmakers will want ever extra lithium for batteries, because the transition to zero-emission autos accelerates – and Rio Tinto’s $2.4bn (£1.8bn) Jadar Valley undertaking may present as a lot as nine-tenths of Europe’s present lithium wants, and switch the corporate into one of many world’s main lithium producers.