That the dissatisfaction of a large number of citizens is there somewhere, that it simmers under the surface of the image created by the controlled media, was also seen 10. August in Belgrade at the anti-lithium protest. At least 40.000 people flocked to Terazije. It is a critical mass that law and order authorities cannot stop, no matter where it is directed, without a great deal of force.
And the mass was directed at the blockade of the Prokop railway stations and those in Block 45. There were no special police units during the night walk, as before in such situations, the autocratic government of Aleksandar Vučić avoided any clash with the demonstrators, did not want to risk adding batons and tear gas on popular anger.
The operational command of the police did what is done in such situations, the same thing that lions do when they isolate their prey in a herd of buffaloes that are dangerous for them while they are together: they waited for the protesters to disperse, and the most persistent ones, who spent the night on the railway , were easily dispersed in the early hours of the morning, and some were arrested.
The good cop and the bad cop
Not long after, on Sunday at 11 a.m., Vučić addressed the citizens from the "Serbia" Palace. Andrić's crown was avoided as a precaution, just in case, Zlatko Kokanović and the team were in Pionirski Park.
This time, Vučić's tone was calming, he dropped the ball, he expressed presidential understanding for the citizens worried that Rio Tinto will poison Serbia and made a difference in relation to the elites, foreigners and Šolak's mercenaries who would destroy him, that is, the country, because he is the state. His performance was expected, already seen in such situations, only this time it was surprisingly short, without logorheic outbursts.
This time he also gave the floor to the Minister of the Interior, Ivica Dacic, who played a bad policeman. 14 persons were detained on suspicion of having committed criminal acts, three for misdemeanors, and two persons are foreign nationals, Dacic said, and that work is being done to identify other persons on criminal and misdemeanor grounds.
It is to be expected that a few will be charged with prison sentences, as a demonstration exercise for all those future protesters who could think of anything else but walking around and venting their discontent and frustrations in the open.
Already seen
The morning picture of the anti-lithium insurgents from Pionirski Park is the picture of all previous protests against Vučić: a few tired people who managed to organize an impressive gathering without any plan for the day after.
The leaders of the environmental associations after an exciting Sunday night with tired faces announce that it was only the beginning. However, the weeks-long protests culminated without any concrete results.
And Vučić and the company do not think of giving up on the "Jadar" project. Bone by bone will break the resistance to the "Jadar" project until the moment when the construction of the mine in the vicinity of Loznica begins. And then everything will depend on the solidarity (what was that?) of citizens all over Serbia with the suffering of the local population, whether, for example, the people of Belgrade will go to stand in front of the excavator in Gornji Nedeljice.
Although the pro-regime media and Vučić himself identified them as corrupt organizers of the anti-lithium rebellion, the absence of opposition leaders at the August 10 protest in Belgrade under the slogan "you won't dig" was striking.
When the opposition called for protests after the December elections because of the spectacularly open, matchless, shameless theft of votes directed by Vučić and his followers, barely 1000 people responded to their call.
And that is the core of all problems in Serbia. The revolutionary excitement of lithium mining is just a side effect of a system where everything is decided by just one man.
