What is happening today in Gornji Nedeljice and Loznica and why was Nebojša Petković arrested

Hi guys, I’ll try to summarize all the important information in one place:

Activists of the Association Ne damo Jadar, i.e. the residents of Gornji Nedeljica, who have been fighting against Rio Tinto and lithium mining for years, today organized a reactive protest – a blockade of the railway to Loznica.

Why did they organize the blockade?

Rio Tinto submitted an initiative to the Constitutional Court regarding the Government’s decision from 2022 to cancel the Jadar project and the accompanying spatial plan. As everyone justifiably suspects, the cancellation was a charade and the Government made a lot of technical and administrative errors and oversights in order to leave room for the cancellation of the decision. Just today, it became known that the decision goes to the Constitutional Court – and the locals reactively organized a short-term protest and blocked the railway as a warning sign to the Constitutional Court, but also to all other institutions, not to play with returning the spatial plan for the Jadar Project.

Who was arrested and for what?

Nebojša Petković, one of the most visible activists from Nedeljice, was arrested. In the previous days, the president himself targeted him and his wife and accused them of taking dogs from Rio Tinto and selling the land themselves. After he invited them to take a polygraph and to choose where and when, they accepted and asked for it to be on RTS with the presence of independent media. The next day, the president withdrew his word and offer, disclaiming that he did not mean them when he said that, even though he had previously called them by name.

Nebojša was arrested for an alleged attack on the police, and he denies it, as can be heard in the noise from this recording.

What next?

Locals and activists who gathered near the railroad announced that the protest would continue until Nebojša was freed, which was an obvious own goal by the police and the regime because the protest would have ended earlier and less would have been heard about it if they had not acted this way.

There are rumors that the police want to arrest more local activists, especially Zlatko Kokanović.

We remain on alert, and I will try to inform you about everything in a timely manner. I invite other breeders who know the details to get involved.