Serbia: Anti-mining protesters bring Belgrade traffic to halt over lithium extraction plans

Follow us on Telegram: Subscribe to our channel! Thousands of demonstrators blocked Belgrade’s Gazela bridge along the E75 motorway, on Saturday, to protest against the expansion of mining company Rio Tinto in Serbia. Previous protests and actions to block roads had resulted in Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic temporarily halting the work carried out by the mining group. However, protest organisers are demanding the government terminate all cooperation with foreign mining companies, after Rio Tinto signed a set of agreements with the Serbian authorities that enable them to exploit the country’s lithium resources. Rio Tinto is planning to open a lithium mine in the west of Serbia, one of Europe’s few countries to have large reserves of the mineral. The company has already started purchasing land from farmers despite many residents in the Jadar region strongly opposing the extraction. Other foreign mining companies are also looking at Serbia’s natural resources