At the protest, several tens of citizens demanded that the Starica mountain be placed under protection

Citizens gathered in front of the House of the National Assembly, from where they came to Pionirski Park in front of the Presidency building, where, blocking traffic in the part of Kralja Milan Street, they whistled and shouted “We will not give the old woman” a message that they will not give up on the demand to stop the work on that mountains.

Co-president Zajedno Nebojsa Zelenović told the Beta agency that he expects the topic of “destruction” in the Majdanpek area to be brought to the highest level and that the parliamentary group “Moramo Zajedno” will raise the issue in the assembly.

As he said, MP Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta, as the chairman of the Environmental Protection Committee, will insist on this.

“We have nothing against mining, we have a big problem with the fact that the laws are not respected here. The laws concerning property are not respected, the laws concerning mining are not respected. That mountain (Starica) has been usurped without permits, and besides therefore, the Chinese are allowed to do intensive mining and to exhaust the reserves in that place in seven years and leave a wasteland,” Nebojša Zelenović said.

He emphasized that this party has nothing against mining that complies with the regulations of the European Union.

“This kind of ore is mined in such locations for 50, 60 or 70 years, and here it will be in seven,” said Zelenović.

He added that today’s protest is the first in a series of protests for the preservation of Starica Mountain.

Co-president Zajedno Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta called on the citizens to be ready to defend that mountain if the works continue, stating that the citizens will not allow Starica to fall.

He said that the only demand of today’s gathering is the urgent passing of “a decree, law or act” according to which the old woman will be placed under protection.

“The moment when the company ‘Zidjin’ buys the private land of our citizens or, according to the law on expropriation, also appropriates it, that moment that land does not belong to Serbia,” pointed out Jovanović Ćuta.

According to him, it is not about the land, but about “what is under the ground”, which calls into question whose gold, copper, water sources, forests belong to.

The gathered citizens carried banners “I will not give my grandfather! Long live Serbia”, “There are no rights and justice, the deeds speak”, “Against the mafia in power”.