BELGRADE, Serbia, Aug 11, (AP): Tens of thousands of protesters rallied on Saturday against lithium mining in Serbia, despite officials' warnings of their alleged plot to topple populist President Aleksandar Vu?i? and his government.
Vu?i? said earlier he had been tipped off by Russian intelligence services that a "mass unrest and a coup” were being prepared in Serbia by unspecified Western powers that wish to oust him from power.
The crowd chanted: "There will be no mining” and "Treason, treason.”
After one of the biggest protests in downtown Belgrade in years ended, some people in the crowd marched toward the capital's two main railway stations, pledging to block train traffic until their demands that lithium mining be officially banned are met.
Government officials and state-controlled media have launched a major campaign against the rally, comparing it to the Maidan uprising in Ukraine's capital, Kiev, that led to the toppling of the country's then pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych in 2013. Organizers of the Belgrade protest have said the protest would be peaceful.
"Our rally today is ecological and has no political ambitions, but the government has accused us of seeking to stage a coup,” actor Svetlana Bojkovi? said.
"We came here today to raise our voice against something that is beyond politics,” she said.
The demonstration came after weeks of protests in dozens of cities throughout Serbia against a government plan to allow lithium mining in a lush farming valley in the west of the country.
This plan had been scrapped in 2022 after large demonstrations were held that included the blocking of key bridges and roads. But it was revived last month and received a boost in a tentative deal on "critical raw materials” signed by Vu?i?'s government with the European Union.