Several thousand rally in Belgrade after scuffles day before

Several thousand people have rallied in Belgrade for another environmental protest, a day after demonstrators blocked bridges and roads in several locations in Serbia, and scuffled with riot police who deployed to stop them

BELGRADE, Serbia -- Several thousand people rallied in Belgrade on Sunday in another environmental protest, a day after demonstrators blocked bridges and roads in different parts of Serbia and scuffled with riot police who formed cordons to try to stop them.

The rally on Sunday was called in protest at alarming levels of air pollution in Serbia produced by coal-fueled power plants, lack of proper air-filtering protection in mines and factories, old cars and bad fuel for home heating.

The protesters, carrying banners reading “The Air Is Dangerous" and “You Are Suffocating Us,” marched through downtown Belgrade, blowing whistles and chanting anti-government slogans.

“We don’t have to measure the pollution, we can see it and feel it,” said Bojan Simisic, from the Eko Straza, or the Eco Guard, the environmental group that is behind the protest. “It is killing our children, I don’t want my children to be forced to flee the country because of the pollution.”