Freedom of Assembly under Attack: Problematic Police Conduct at Environmental Protests
Freedom of Assembly under Attack: Problematic Police Conduct at Environmental Protests

Author(s): Author Not Specified
Subject(s): Politics, Environmental and Energy policy, Security and defense, Environmental interactions
Published by: BCBP Beogradski centar za bezbednosnu politiku
Keywords: Serbia; Freedom of Assembly; Police ; Environmental Protests
Summary/Abstract: The end of 2021 was marked by civic protests that were organised with the request to withdraw the amendments to the Law on Expropriation and amend the Law on Referendum and People’s Initiative. The initial reason for the protests was the Government’s plan to allow the exploitation of lithium in western Serbia with potentially enormous environmental consequences. The organisation Kreni-Promeni [Go-Change] came to the fore as the leader of these peaceful protests. Citizens gathered peacefully for two Saturdays in a row, first on 27 November, when they blocked roads and bridges for one hour, and then on 4 December, when a much larger crowd gathered in more than 50 cities in Serbia for a two-hour-long road blockade. As a result of serious public pressure, the Serbian authorities met the two protest demands. The organisers withdrew, but other environmental associations, assessing that only a part of the bigger problem has been solved, organised blockades on 11 December as well.

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