Hundreds of people gathered in the central Serbian town of Valevo on Monday to protest against a project by "Rio Tinto" for lithium mining in western Serbia due to concerns that it could pollute the land, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Protesters in the central square in the industrial town, which has a population of 55,000 and is located about 100 km west of Belgrade, chanted: "You will not dig” and "Rio Tinto, leave Serbia!“.
"We will not allow this, we will fight as hard as we can,” said Sonia, a 50-year-old resident of Valevo.
Alexander Jovanovic Kuta, one of the organizers of the protest, said that "the agony called lithium continues”.
"Serbia will not remain silent on this issue. This is non-negotiable, he said.
On August 10, tens of thousands gathered at a rally in the capital, Belgrade. Authorities said the protests were politically motivated and aimed at ousting populist President Aleksandar Vucic and his government.
In Valevo, protesters also demanded an end to what they described as government repression of green activists.
After the August 10 rally, police questioned and searched the apartments of more than 40 green activists, mainly on suspicion of plotting against the country's constitution, said activist Aleksandra Bulatovic.
She was also questioned because of her criticism of the project.