The Union of Environmental Organizations (SEOS) continued today with the road blockade at 13 p.m. Citizens gathered on several roads in Serbia, and for the first time since the protests began at the end of November last year, one border crossing was blocked - Trbušnica near Loznica.
This was to be the long heralded radicalization of the protest.
Instead of blocking the road and the intersection to the border crossing, the citizens came out in front of the border post with fences and transparent screens. There were no police, not even in civilian clothes, although Prime Minister Ana Brnabiće stated a few days ago that the state will not tolerate the blockade of border crossings.
Support at Trbušnica also came from activists of non-governmental organizations from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The "Ne damo Jadar" organization says that this is proof that this fight has gone to the European level.
In Šabac, one driver tried to drive through the mass of gathered people. On that occasion, one of the demonstrators was injured. Due to nervous drivers, the situation was also tense in Preljina, where the crowd dispersed after a one-hour blockade.
The protest in Belgrade passed peacefully, several hundred people blocked the road near the Sava Center in both directions and the Gazela bridge. On the overpass, you could see a banner that read "Traitor" hanging on it.
Unlike last Saturday, representatives of environmental organizations were seen among the gathered citizens who called the citizens to a protest. One of the leaders of the Ecological Uprising, Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta, said that he was satisfied with the response of citizens and said that the protests will not stop until the acute problem is solved - which is the deletion and annulment of the Government of Serbia's Decree of the "Jadar" project from the republic's Spatial Plan.
The Alliance of Environmental Organizations of Serbia was joined in the blockades by the organizations Ecological Uprising, Ne davimo Beograd, Akcija, Savski Nasip and many others.
In parallel with the struggle in the streets, the "Go to Change" initiative presented on Friday a "legal solution" to the departure of Rio Tinto. Savo Manojlović, a member of the initiative, submitted to the Government the petition "Rio Tinto, march from the Drina" with 290 thousand signatures and announced that, if the spatial plan for the "Jadar" project is not canceled by January 20, he will start collecting at least 30 thousand signatures, which is enough to launch a people's initiative on this project before the National Assembly. In that case, citizens could directly vote "for" or "against" Rio Tinto in a referendum.
There are two and a half months left until the parliamentary, presidential and Belgrade elections.
SP/N1
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