https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/rally-serbia-draws-attention-countrys-airpollution-82566200
Rally in Serbia draws attention to
country's air pollution
Hundreds of people have rallied in Serbia to draw attention to the country's high
air pollution and demand that authorities take action to improve air quality
ByThe Associated Press
January 30, 2022, 9:31 AM
• 2 min read
BELGRADE, Serbia -- Hundreds of people rallied in Serbia on Sunday to draw
attention to the country's high air pollution and demand that authorities take
action to improve air quality.
The protest in central Belgrade was the latest in a series of gatherings
organized by increasingly visible environmental movement in the Balkan
country.
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Serbia — like much of the Western Balkans — is facing multiple environmental
problems following decades of neglect. The problems include poor waste
management, low air quality and polluted rivers. Weeks of road blockades
drawing thousands of people recently forced authorities to scrap a project for
lithium mining by the Rio Tinto company in western Serbia.
Organizers of Sunday's event demanded that the government inform the
public about the air quality index on national TV. They said bad air kills
thousands of people each year in Serbia.
“Serbia has very dramatic problem with air pollution,” said one of the
organizers, Bojan Simsic. “We have the highest mortality in Europe and one of
the highest ... in the world (from poor air quality).”
The protesters included families with small children. Some carried banners
reading “Stop air pollution!” or “You are suffocating us!” They blocked traffic
in a central street before marching toward the government headquarters.
Experts say the poor air quality in Belgrade is the result of using low-quality
coal at nearby power plants, having thousands of polluting old cars in the
capital and older systems for home heating. Serbia must fix its environmental
troubles before it is able to join the European Union.
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