How a mine has become a rallying cry for a rural Serbian community – and wider national protests
“Let all of Serbia, Europe, and the world hear this –we will never give up. And you will not be digging!” a voice rings out from the stage in Belgrade’s Slavija Square. Behind the microphone is Zlatko Kokanović, a farmer from the village of Gornje Nedeljice and an activist in the Ne damo Jadar (We Won’t Give Up Jadar) movement. It’s the summer of 2025 and the crowd of nearly 150,000 people, many waving Serbian flags, roars in response.
The rally, one of a series of protests lasting many months, was sparked by the tragic events of November 1, 2024, when 16 people were killed after a concrete canopy collapsed at Novi Sad railway station. The demonstrations quickly evolved into a wider movement against the corruption of President Aleksandar Vučić’s government and the incompetence of officials and the political establishment, which are thought to have given rise to the poor-quality construction work that many believe caused the fatal canopy collapse. But broad resistance to a large-scale lithium mining project planned for the Jadar River valley in western Serbia led by the Rio Tinto corporation has also become an integral aspect of the protests.
