Serbia - August 2024

Following around 50 protests since June, a mass demonstration against lithium mining on 10 August drew around 30,000 participants, ending with the blockade of two train stations and several arrests. Three activists were handed what were deemed harsh penalties by legal experts—one receiving 40 days of detention and two others 30 days—for “disturbing public order,” though the ruling was overturned for all of them on appeal on 13 August. The protest targeted a plan to open a lithium mine by the Australian-British consortium Rio Tinto, with activists urging a law to permanently ban lithium mining. Despite the project's potential economic benefits, citizens fear it will pollute land and water and disrupt local communities. The project, initially cancelled in 2022 after mass protests, was revived in July without proper public or civil society consultation when German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič secured deals for EU carmakers to access Serbian lithium. Government officials dismissed the protest as politically motivated.

Sources: Danas, Politico (1), Politico (2), Reuters, European Western Balkans