Clashes broke out Wednesday on Mt. Kablar between the police and environmental activists opposing the construction of a viewing platform on this mountain because of which, as they claim, a large part of the forest will be cut down.

Ecological Uprising MP Aleksandar “Cuta” Jovanovic spoke live for N1 TV from Mt. Kablar.

“They arrested two activists, brutally pushed them into a paddy wagon and before that to the ground,” said Jovanovic, noticeably upset.

He explained that people gathered on Kablar to protect their “mountain from being butchered” and that they are waiting for Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, who is scheduled to visit Kablar on Wednesday, to ask her why she is cutting down the forest.

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic told reporters on the peak of Mt Kablar that a viewpoint would be built there as part of development plans and would be an attraction fully in line with nature.

Jovanovic told N1 that the environmental activists were just standing, holding banners and waiting for the Prime Minister to arrive, when the police pushed them to the sidewalk and restricted their movement.

“And what did we experience? They beat us, arrested us, now they brutally knocked two activists to the ground, handcuffed them and took them away in a paddy wagon (…) We never attacked anyone, we were just waiting for Ana Brnabic with banners. It is not the job of the police to beat and arrest people because they are moving freely,” said Jovanovic.

He stressed that Kablar is a protected area and that activists have been there for two weeks trying to prevent the “brutal felling of trees for an access road to a future viewing platform that is to be opened by Ana Brnabic today (…) By her, who lives in (a Belgrade elite residential area of) Dedinje, she came here with a crowd of police officers. What is she afraid of,” said Jovanovic.

He said the Wednesday events on Mt. Kablar are an example of what will happen to anyone who opposes the projects of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Ana Brnabić, but called on the people to be brave and defend their forests and rivers.