BELGRADE (Reuters) – Several thousand people blocked traffic in front of the Serbian parliament on Saturday in protest against the lack of government action to prevent water, land and air pollution by industries such as the mining sector.
Protesters, who came to Belgrade from all over Serbia, held banners with the caption “Cut corruption and crime, not forests,” and “Young people leave because they can not breathe”.
In recent years, Serbia has begun selling its mining resources to foreign companies, despite opposition from locals who have warned that increased ore surveys could cause greater pollution.
The former Yugoslav republic, which went through a decade of wars and economic crisis in the 1990s, does not have enough resources to deal with pollution. As it seeks to join the European Union, Serbia will need billions of euros to meet environmental standards.
Aleksandar Jovanovic, one of the protest leaders, told the crowd that investors are all welcome in the country, but added: “But you can not poison our children.”
“None of the people who have power care about anything but money, they do not care about ecology,” said one protester, who only mentioned his name as Marjan, and who is from the city of Jagodina, 140 kilometers ( 90 miles) drove, drove. of Belgrade, told Reuters.
Reporting by Ivana Sekularac; Edited by Frances Kerry