“Zaječar against mines - I live here and I will not move”: 2,000 signatures in three hours

In late July 2026, signatures were collected on the streets of Zaječar for the petition "Zaječar against mines - I live here and I will not move!". Around 2,000 fellow citizens signed in three hours. Another 150 signatures came from Knjaževac, and around 500 objections were collected in Belgrade over a single morning.

The drive was run jointly by five groups: the associations Eko Istok and the Balkan Biosphere Protection Centre, the youth initiative Zaječarci u blokadi, the informal groups Timočka buna and Timočki božur, and the teachers' network Glas prosvete Zaječar. The petition demands a stop to the uncontrolled expansion of mining around the Čukaru Peki and Malka Golaja mines, and rejects forced resettlement.

The signatures were gathered while the early public review of the spatial plan covering 126 square kilometres was still running, the plan that explicitly leaves open the possibility of resettling residents. The petition's title is an answer to precisely that sentence in the document.