Farmers and other citizens who demonstrated in front of the Municipality of Bogatić, where a public discussion on the spatial plan of the municipality and research was to be held of lithium, they broke the front door and entered the building.
They went upstairs and entered the assembly hall shouting "You will not dig!".
In the video that was published on social networks, one of the people who broke into the municipality addressed the people they found in that hall saying that those who were in the municipality building "locked their doors, and this is our house".
"You are only passers-by here." I would like to ask these gentlemen who were sitting here that if they have something to say - we will be parliamentary and we will listen to them. If they don't have them, let them go outside," said that man, to which the others who entered the municipality building with him shouted "Outside!".
After that, the people who were in the hall before the invasion of farmers and citizens left the hall accompanied by a loud noise of whistles and vuvuzelas.
According to the Nova portal, Milan Pajić from the Citizens' Association "Naše mleko" called all those gathered to leave the assembly hall and said that the orderlies would stay because of the equipment.
"Please let's leave in the best order." This is just one of our demonstration exercises. This will happen everywhere. Both in the Government of Serbia and in Belgrade," he said.
In another video clip that was published on social networks, it is stated that rebellious citizens who entered the Municipality building physically kicked out the head of the SNS parliamentary group, and a video of this incident was also published.
The discussion that was supposed to be held in the Municipality of Bogatić refers to the Draft Spatial Plan of Bogatić until 2035. One of the items is the lithium and boron research area, which covers about 200.000 hectares of fertile arable land.
Rio Tinto: We have no plans in the area of Bogatić
After this protest, the company Rio Tinto reacted.
In the statement, she strongly condemned and rejected the "attempt of unscrupulous manipulation of the public and the name of Rio Tinto for political purposes at the protests in Bogatic".
"We clearly and responsibly point out that Rio Tinto is not involved in any activities nor has any plans for research or exploitation of lithium in the area of Petlovaca, Bogatić, Šabac. This information is easily verifiable and provable. The organizers of the protest and certain actors who spread this misinformation are deliberately deceiving the citizens and abusing the existing student protests for the sake of political and other interests, even though they have full information that Rio Tinto has no activities in Bogatić," the company's announcement reads.
Ministry: No approval has been issued for the territory of Bogatić
The Ministry of Mining and Energy also made an announcement, which also denied the claims regarding the alleged research of lithium and boron in the territory of Šabac and Bogatić.
"We emphasize that the Ministry of Mining and Energy did not issue any approval according to the submitted request of the company 'Edelweis Mineral Exploration' for geological exploration of lithium and boron in the Petlovača area. We emphasize that in the Draft Spatial Plan of Bogatić until 2035, for which the Department of Urban Planning, Communal-Housing Affairs, Building Land and Infrastructure - Development of Planning Documents of the Municipality of Bogatić, issued a call for public inspection, there is no mention of plans for 'lithium and pine mining', says the Ministry of Mining and Energy's announcement.
