Protest against open pit coal mine in front of Environment Ministry

N1

Residents of villages near the Kolubara open pit coal mine protested on Tuesday in front of the Serbian Environment Ministry, demanding to be relocated.

The villagers carried pictures of their cracked houses and told N1 that most of them have respiratory problems. “We have whole families on inhalers. It’s hard to talk about it but 10 days ago we buried a six year old boy. Last year we buried a child of one,” villager Vesna Terzic said.

They said they know that the coal from Kolubara is needed to produce electricity. One of their banners read How Many Kilowatts for Child’s Life. They said they should have been relocated once the pits drew close to their homes. “We were supposed to have been moved long ago but were bypassed,” one of the villagers said.

They said that an open letter outlining their problem had been addressed to Environment Minister Goran Trivan but got no response.

About 100 families still live in villages right next to one of the pits.