People hold banners reading, "We Won't Give up Jadar!" and march during a protest against pollution and the exploitation of a lithium mine in the country in Belgrade, Serbia, August 10, 2024. Jadar is a farming valley in western Serbia that holds one of Europe's richest deposits of lithium
TENS of thousands of protesters rallied on Saturday against lithium mining in Serbia as officials claimed it was part of a plot to topple populist President Aleksandar Vucic and his government.
Mr Vucic said he had been tipped off by Russian intelligence services that “mass unrest and a coup” were being promoted by unspecified Western powers that wish to oust him from power.
Officials and state-controlled media launched a major campaign against the rally, comparing it to the Maidan uprising in Ukraine’s capital Kiev, which led to the toppling of the country’s pro-Russia president Viktor Yanukovych in 2013.
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