Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabic, said she does not find the demands of the citizens presented at the protests on Saturday across the country constitutional, while she compared the behavior of the police during the protests with that in other European countries.

“Citizens can be dissatisfied, of course. We had so many protests. It was not the police yesterday. You could see water cannons in Europe, you could see in the video I published how the protesters are treated in European countries,” said Brnabic.

Asked by N1 reporter whether that means that the behavior of the police is justified because it is also the case in Europe, she replied that Serbia is much more tolerant and that “you did not even see the police yesterday.”

Brnabic said that the amendments to the Law on Referendum had to abolish the census in order for it to be harmonised with the Constitution of Serbia. She also announced that the newly adopted Law on Expropriation would be amended by the end of the year.

Over the previous two weeks, mass protests were organised throughout Serbia against the two aforementioned laws, with the protesters claiming that the laws are being adopted in order to open the way for Rio Tinto company to open a lithium mine in the west of the country.