On Wednesday at 18 p.m., the president of the Serbian Progressive Party and the State Aleksandar Vučić addressed the nation in a live television broadcast to "explain to the people" what the issue of Rio Tinto, the controversial Law on Referendum and Expropriation, protests, roadblocks and beatings in Šabac is actually about.
The president read from numerous documents, at first his presentation was quite incomprehensible, it all lasted about one and a half hours, and the essence is as follows: Lithium is good, but the people will decide what to do with it, we will have to wait for another year of study impact on the environment so there is no room for immediate panic, Đilas is a thief, he and the previous thieving government wanted Serbia to build a lithium valley a decade ago, "fake environmentalists" are foreign mercenaries who organize road blocks in order to drive away Rio Tinto and bring some other western company to exploit Serbian lithium, the police will not intervene during the protest and road blockade on Saturday.
Opposition parties thus attached the "lithium" label, in order not to disgust sympathizers of environmental activism before the spring elections. He labeled the organizers of the blockade Western mercenaries who do all this for the money they put in their own pockets, he mentioned the Western 8 million euros that Serbian environmental organizations cashed "this year alone", in order not to disgust the people.
The president's address was broadcast by RTS, Prva, Happy and Pink on national television channels.
All the time, Pink was complaining that the police in Great Britain were "brutally" removing and arresting some protesters who were blocking a street, which should probably show how good and tolerant the Serbian police are, but that they could do it differently.
With the occasional emphasis that Serbia is an economic champion, the President lashed out at the "fabrications and lies" of the Đilasov-Sholak media and "false environmentalists", declared the demonstrators in Šabac to be reckless thugs, and the SS beaters victims, and decisively declared that "the street, while he is in power, will not determine the policy of Serbia".
He advised, as he says, "in good faith", those who are organizing road blockades in about thirty cities on Saturday, December 4, not to do so, because they are disgusted with the people. He said that the police will let them do whatever they want, unless they endanger people's lives, property and state institutions, and called on decent people, who are rightly outraged, to refrain from dealing with these foreign mercenaries.
He asked the organizers of the blockades only to inform the people how long they will be "harassed and terrorized" on Saturday.
He also announced that he would go talk to the people around Loznica to explain that nothing would be done to his and environmental damage and nature, and that the exploitation of lithium is very good for his, the people's, standard of living, and that, if necessary, he will endure "eggs and stones and axes", because he is not afraid of anything and because it is his job.
He also pointed out that he can "without moving" sit on a chair for about 15 hours to listen to "everyone", that is, honest and concerned people, who are served with various lies.
From his long presentation, the conclusion can be drawn that the government's tactic, for now, will be for the protesters to block the roads unhindered and that it is counted on that these, as well as previous protests, will be "1 in 5 million", over time they will fail on their own, especially if the opposition parties start to adopt them. That is why he presented their leaders as great, but unlike him, thieving supporters of lithium exploitation.
Depending on the authorities' assessment of how the road blockades affect the rating of Vučić and SNS in the country and abroad, it cannot be ruled out that on Saturday some "bitter, decent world" will try to break through the blockades, so that the police would have to intervene in order to restore order and peace in the name of the law.
It was quite clear from his presentation that Vučić will do everything in his power to Rio Tinto starts working in Serbia, that there is some promise, because Rio Tinto, as confirmed by the President, has already bought 70 percent of the necessary land, invested in the surrounding roads and has already invested 350 million, he did not say the currency, in the entire project. Admittedly, this part of the presentation was quite incomprehensible.
The graphic that showed how Serbia would with the production of batteries from domestic lithium and electric cars, which is his, Vučić's goal, with an annual income of 10,3 billion euros from that business became a "European miracle".
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