Environmental and activist movements/organizations/activists from the region: Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, and Serbia held a protest in Sarajevo yesterdaywith the message “We will not give them a drop of water!”.
The regional alliance called ”Let’s Defend the Rivers of the Balkans” previously announced that yesterday’s protest is the cornerstone of a joint struggle for the liberation of all rivers in the Balkans.
However, there was a heated debate between the gathered protesters. Some were for and others against the construction of small hydropower plants and the construction of hydropower plants in general.
“People, let’s unite to defend the rivers, that’s why we gatheredhere,” the activist emphasized, while a few people were against and said, “oh please, who is here for defending rivers, what is this”.
“We start with rivers, we will defend freedom and our dignity. We will not give them rivers,” the activist noted.
On the other hand, there were gathered citizens who were saying phrases like “where is the money you got for this, why are you doing this, where are your employees”.
They pointed out “do you know how many small hydroelectric power plants have been built in Europe, how many have been built in the United States (U.S.)”, and activists added ”how many”, then the chanting of sentence: “We will not give rivers” started.
But despite the rough protest, activists are persistent in fighting to protect rivers from building hydropower plants.
To recall, ”Let’s Defend the Rivers of the Balkans” is an alliance that brings together organizations, associations, unions, formal and informal initiatives, as well as people from BiH, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, and Serbia who have stood out in the fight for a healthy environment, and against crimes against rivers and people.
“There are dozens of victories for small communities across the Balkans, and now we want to channel that energy by working together to achieve lasting changes in regulations and practices in order to save our rivers for us and generations to come,” they stated from this alliance, Radio Sarajevo writes.
E. Dz.
