Police cordon stops environmental activists’ march

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A police cordon was deployed outside the Palace of Serbia on Tuesday to prevent environmental activists from approaching the building during their protest march.

The protest march was staged to coincide with President Aleks-andar Vucic’s medal-awarding ceremony. The blocked the roads around the building in New Belgrade.

The protesters tried to run around the cordon but were stopped by the police, appearing to chase each other across the lawns in front of the Palace of Serbia.

The environmental activists are demanding a nation-wide ban on the mining of lithium and borite and have been camping in tents in front of the Serbian Presidency building for several days.

Environmental activists said after Tuesday’s protest that they were lifting their protest camp in front of the Serbian Presidency building pending more protest activities later in the week.

Activist leader Savo Manojlovic said that they decided to block the roads to the building to express their dissatisfaction with the fact that President Vucic failed to respond to the people camping in front of the presidency. “If parliament is not dissolved today, there’s still a chance. The government can put forward a draft law under immediate procedure and parliament could adopt it,” he told reporters. He said that environmental organizations were preparing their next steps if parliament is dissolved on Tuesday and elections are called. “The certain next step are protests and blockades during the election campaign,” he said.

The police briefly detained some of the protesters who tried to break through the cordon.