PIERCING THE CHINESE

WALL IN ZRENJANIN
CIVIC ACTIVISM VS. LINGLONG
Ivan Živkov

May 2022
1
 PIERCING THE CHINESE
WALL IN ZRENJANIN
CIVIC ACTIVISM VS. LINGLONG

Publisher
Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP)
Đure Jakšića 6/5, Belgrade, Serbia
www.bezbednost.org, office@bezbednost.org

Author:
Ivan Živkov, sociolog

Design and pre-press:

Srđan Ilić

May 2022

This case study was developed as part of a joint effort by the Centre for Research,
Transparency and Accountability (CRTA), the National Coalition for Decentralisation
(NKD), the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) and Partners for Democratic
Change, to encourage greater citizen participation in the decision-making process
through the project “Citizens Have Power”, supported by the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID). The views expressed in this case study are solely
those of the authors and do not reflect the views of USAID.

2
Content

Introduction 4
Linglong’s arrival and the activists’ first response 5
Pointing to the breach of logic in the state 7
aid to Linglong
Facing the illicit building 8
Studies and “public hearings“ on environment 11
impact assessment
17
Diplomatic messages
Protests and incidents 18

Public information 22

Endnotes 24

3
 Introduction

The violation of many regulations, abuse of public powers, disregard for civil rights and
extreme lenience of the national, provincial and local authorities to one investor make
up the so-far experience with the Chinese Linglong company building an enormous
tyre factory near Zrenjanin. The Prosecutor’s Office and the Administrative Court have
ignored the criminal charges and applications related to the construction of that factory.
The public in Serbia is deprived of the knowledge on how the operations of the tyre
manufacturer will impact the environment, food produced in it, the nearby special
reservation of “Carska bara” and the health of the people living there. Dissemination of
information on these problems is made difficult because the pro-regime media ignore
them or sweep them under the carpet. The monitoring of the Linglong company’s
investment and its consequences on Zrenjanin and Serbia during the past three years is
systematically conducted only by civic activists, with assistance of several associations
and independent media.

The activists of Zrenjanin at one of the numerous environmental protests

4
Linglong’s arrival and the activists’ first response

The arrival of the grand Chinese investor to Serbia was announced unofficially during the
year 2018 and officially, via state media, in early spring 2019. According to the claims of
the top state officials, it was bringing revival not only to the town of Zrenjanin, but the
whole Banat region too. It was Linglong, a tyre-producing company, which has meanwhile,
in the past three years, built most of the facilities for its future factory of gigantic scale.
With its conclusion, the Serbian Government declared the factory construction “a project
of special importance” for the state and with an array of actions made sure the arrival and
operations were facilitated for the Linglong company, which in practice meant suspension
of legal order, enormous budgetary subsidies and also concealment of information about
the events in its construction site.

From the very announcement of Linglong’s arrival to Serbia, the efforts of civic activists
commenced in order to shed light on the investment, bring it to compliance or prevent.
The endeavours were initially motivated primarily by the concerns about the pollution
caused by such a large plant with dirty technology coming from the world’s most polluted
country, and later inspired by the wish for the national authorities and investor to abide by
the applicable law, not the political will of the regime in Belgrade or Beijing, with manifold
violation of human rights.

The activists first sought information on facts: on what terms and what land was conceded
to Linglong, and then whether an environment impact assessment for the future plant
study was conducted and approved before the construction works began on 30 March
2019. Although the national authorities protracted the contract publication,1 it could be
inferred from the cadastre data that the land was taken away to the benefit of the Chinese
company, i.e., that those were first-class arable fields.2

Serbia granted first-class agricultural land for the tyre factory

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 As early as on 1 June, having learned from the local administration in Zrenjanin and from
the line secretariat/ministry of the AP Vojvodina and the Serbian Government that there
was no environment impact assessment for the tyre plant,3 the activists organised a
street action titled “Land is not Free – Health is not for Sale”.4 At the town’s central green
market in Zrenjanin, they exhibited the photos of Chinese polluted towns and distributed
leaflets presenting the facts on constructing the Linglong tyre factory in Zrenjanin known
that far, without an environment impact assessment.

From the street action in Zrenjanin, 1 June 2019

The activists shortly started work on awareness raising for the citizens on this very
important topic, indicating the already existing, bad situation with pollution, which was
to assume dramatic scale with Linglong’s arrival. They recorded a video clip “Let’s make
a U-turn” pointing to negative trends, with a message that Linglong would bring pollution
and slavery labour conditions along, which came true two years after.5

A detail from recording the video in spring 2019 – with protective mask in front of
Linglong’s cornerstone

6
Pointing to the breach of logic in the state
aid to Linglong

Since Linglong’s arrival and construction of gigantic tyre factory was justified by
Serbian officials with the need for job creation, civic activists reminded that after 2000,
various investors had come to Zrenjanin, like Draexlmaier, Fulgar, Pompeia, Geze and
others, building their plants and employing several thousand workers, while taking the
construction land for long-term rent at five to seven euros per square metre, as well as
that somewhat later, when the law enabled land sales, not just rent, the Town of Zrenjanin
generated revenues of several million euros from that source. When all this is taken into
account, granting almost 97 hectares of land to the Linglong company does not sound
economically justifiable anymore and challenges the equality of business operators
in the Serbian market. The activists also quoted data that the Draexlmaier company
had more than five thousand employees from Zrenjanin at the moment of contracting
Linglong, and all the investors in Zrenjanin’s industrial zone had more than ten thousand
workers, while Linglong announced to recruit only 1,300 in a gradualist approach, until
2025, which means that it does not justify the granted privileges in that aspect either.6

Other than objections to violation of principles, the activists most often pointed to the
absurdity of placing dirty industry of gigantic scale in the middle of agricultural and food
industry area, with its emissions into air, water and surrounding soil having negative
influence on the quality produced in medium Banat region and consumed throughout
the country.

When the National Real Estate Directorate published the contract with Linglong, only
after the intervention of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance, in
July 2019, the civic activists warned against a range of disputable elements therein.
Thus, they found out that within the land granted to Linglong there is also a runway
of the nearby “Ečka” airport, with its ancillary facilities. The activists went public with
the information that the state took up the obligation under this contract to indemnify
current and potential claimants of the land in restitution proceedings, in order to protect
Linglong’s interests. The contract literally reads “in order to avoid any doubt, in cases of
third-party claims or existing charges, the Republic of Serbia shall undertake all actions
allowed by the legislation, at its own cost, to prevent any damage on the Linglong side ”.7

In October 2020, a Decision was published on the web portal of the Commission for State
Aid Control, where irrevocable financial assistance of 83.5 million euros was granted
to Linglong. Of that, a little over 7.5 million euros is the value of the land previously
conceded to it, and the rest is monetary, to be paid in the period from 2020 to 2026.8
The Commission awarding state aid calculated that the share of state investment in the
total Linglong investment planned was 10.44%, so the justifiable question is why the state
share in the ownership of the future plant is not tantamount. It is clear that Linglong’s
earnings will be a little more than 16 million euros, which means that the irrevocable state
7
 aid in the company by far exceeds the incentives for job creation. Zrenjanin’s activists
asked a question in that regard, about how many domestic companies would hire 1,200
workers for a five-year period, which is the only obligation on Linglong’s side, had the
state granted them 83.5 million euros, thus reiterating the absurd conduct of the state in
favour of the Chinese company. The Renewables and Environment Regulatory Institute
(RERI) has analysed the aid granted to Linglong and concluded that it was not awarded
under the law, on several grounds.9 Namely, the total assistance Linglong received from
the Republic of Serbia certainly exceeds the allowed threshold for capital investment
projects, and it was awarded to a company which had not proven compliance with
environmental regulations.

The state has assisted Linglong several times in covert manners. So far, the activists
have discovered that the state budget paid for its construction of water mains and
sewage network, and the local budget of Zrenjanin covered the land demining.10 Given the
non-transparent behaviour of the authorities and the difficulties in finding such
information, fears that the outflow of public funds to the benefit of Linglong is much
higher than known so far are quite justifiable.

Facing the illicit building

After the Chinese builders switched from laying the foundations to erecting a kilometre-
-long fence around their newly acquired land, more than 30 civic activists submitted
applications at the Town of Zrenjanin’s registry office, demanding that all illicit building
be stayed until the investor developed an environment impact assessment study.11
As early as then, it could be discerned that Linglong and the state authorities opted for the
“salami chopping“ strategy, rendering environment protection regulations meaningless,
as the single factory complex appeared in its parts when submitting applications for
construction permits to different authorities, sometimes provincial and other times
local ones. This was consistently and well-foundedly highlighted by the Renewables and
Environment Regulatory Institute (RERI).12

This was followed by the first response to the activists’ endeavours and their demands
for Linglong and the authorities to abide by the law: pro-regime tabloids presented this
as a lie about Chinese factories fabricated by EU- and US-funded NGOs.13

Pursuant to one of the many complaints of the Renewables and Environment Regulatory
Institute (RERI), the provincial constructions inspector controlled Linglong’s site and
noted, on 27 April 2021, that eight facilities on more than 47 thousand square metres
were being built without a permit. On the same day, he issued a Decision ordering the
investor to remove the facilities, and the day later also a Decision ordering the closure of
part of the site. These orders have never been implemented.

8
 Orders of the provincial construction inspector remained a dead letter

After the expiry of the 30-day deadline, imposed by the construction inspector on
the investor to remove the illicit building, Gradjanski preokret (Citizens for U-Turn)
pressed criminal charges against the responsible person at the investor, the limited
liability company of Linglong International Europe d.o.o. Zrenjanin, and the responsible
person of the works contractor, China Energy Engineering Group Tianjin Electric Power
Construction, for the criminal offence of building without construction permit, suspecting
a case of serious form of the offence, because the investor and contractor did not follow
the construction inspector’s order.14

The activists did not come to terms with the fact that the orders of the construction
inspector were not implemented, so they demanded the local and provincial authorities to
provide information on why they did not act accordingly. In late June 2021, they received
a reply from the Provincial Secretariat for Energy, Construction and Transport, stating
that they did not have any information on whether the Chinese company Linglong had
followed the order of the provincial construction inspector,15 and the local construction
inspectorate invoked its incompetence for the issue in their reply.
9
 In the same month, the Provincial Secretariat for Energy, Construction and Transport
issued a construction permit to Linglong, for the questionable facilities the legalisation
of which was thus attempted. The activists reacted with an appeal to the Administrative
Court and request that such construction permit be annulled. They challenged it
because it had been issued before a valid environment impact assessment study.16
The Administrative Court has not decided on the appeal yet. Finally, on 24 December
2021, the Minister of Construction, Tomislav Momirović, confirmed that a large-scale
illicit building on Linglong’s site remained untouched. Media conveyed his statement
that “there have been certain deviations from town planning regulations which were not
aligned to the law, of course there has been no tearing down, the works were stopped and
everything got aligned to the law, overcome and resolved“.17

And a few months before the construction inspectorate discovered the construction
without permit on Linglong’s site itself, illicit building for the interest of that company
was found on the adjacent plots of Zrenjanin’s industrial zone. Namely, according to the
town planning projects of the ”Penfarm” and ”Rakić plast” companies, in the South-East
industrial zone of Zrenjanin, in close vicinity of the tyre factory Linglong’s construction site,
presented by the local administration of Zrenjanin in January 2021, the following facilities
were planned in a location that does not provide a minimum security environment, i.e.
protection from fire: 128 containers for placement of 520 persons, no area for eating,
rest, adequate hygiene and first aid. The activists called such town planning projects an
attempt to legalise the Chinese labour camp which had already been partly constructed
at the moment18, warning against the non-compliance with the Law on Planning and
Construction, which allows for workers to be in temporary placement facilities only if on
the same plot where they work, i.e. prohibits the placement in facilities on neighbouring
plots, besides the scandalous idea to accommodate people in such an inhuman manner.
Although the local construction inspectorate made an on-site visit upon the activists’
report and noted that the containers of the land of the “Penfarm” and “Rakić plast”
companies were illegally built, ordering their dismantling, they have not been removed
to date and Linglong’s workers are staying there. The survival of those facilities was
made possible by the provincial authorities whose Secretariat for Energy, Transport and
Construction annulled the decision of the construction inspectorate for formal reasons,
because the local inspectorate delivered it to a third party, besides the plot owners.
The third party is the beneficial owner of the containers, the Chinese company China
Energy Engineering Group Tianjin Electric Power Construction, procuring the works of
building Linglong’s tyre factory.19

For the needs of Linglong, the local authorities of Zrenjanin legalised the then
inconceivable practice of building five-storey buildings in the Banat region villages.
In September 2021, the local assembly adopted the Decision of General Regulation Plan
for the Ečka settlement, the closest village to the future tyre factory. Under this Decision,
another 44 thousand square metres of first-class forest were allotted to the possible
future construction of five-storey residential blocks, besides the 30 thousand square
metres intended for the construction of Linglong’s residential complex. Besides the civic
activists, the responsible town planner from Zrenjanin’s public urbanistic enterprise, Jelka
Đorđević, was also against this decision, which still hasn’t prevented its adoption.20
10
Studies and “public hearings“ on environment
impact assessment

After the construction of the kilometre-long “Chinese wall” around the entire site of
the future tyre factory and the auxiliary facilities, like parking lot and porter booths,
Linglong requested from the town of Zrenjanin the approval of environment impact
assessment for one of its manufacturing facilities. The problem with the request is
manifold. Besides the fact that the study did not refer to the entire factory, but only to a
part of the planned facilities, it was submitted to an incompetent authority, as decisions
on studies for such facilities would have to be decided on by a national, not local
authority, according to the applicable regulations. Given that this was about the tyre
factory in Zrenjanin, the decision on the submitted study should be made by a provincial
authority, following the delegated competences, by no means the local administration.
Although the Town of Zrenjanin declared itself incompetent and to the query of the
subject study it replied it did not have it, nevertheless it accepted to decide on the study.
The public hearing was scheduled for 4 September 2020.

The local administration that declared itself incompetent in 2019, issued approval of
Linglong’s partial environment impact assessment study the following year

11
 More than one hundred citizens and organisations submitted in writing their objections
to the published study. The Gradjanski preokret NGO stated in the submission that
„consciously violating the regulations in the past year and a half (primarily the Law on
Environment Impact Assessment) die to the beginning of the works based on issued
decision approving the beginning of the works without developing an environment
impact assessment study, the project holder has already built a kilometre-long wall
within phases one and two, to fence the future tyre factory and commenced building
a “complex of facilities for free zone operations“, without requesting an environment
impact assessment study, to reach a phase now with implied construction of “a complex
of facilities for tyre manufacturing plants with ancillary infrastructure” and the need to
finally develop an environment impact assessment study. At the same time, the project
holder, Linglong, is playing ping-pong and refers to the Provincial Town Planning Institute
for decision on the need to develop a second environment impact assessment study, for
the project of building a mixer for tyre production within the Linglong factory complex,
with ancillary infrastructural facilities, which the local administration of Zrenjanin was
informed of, as the authority concerned, but the citizens were not, as interested public,
which again violates the regulations. Instead of developing a comprehensive environment
impact assessment study first, holding a public hearing and informing the interested
public, everything was done non-transparently and partially, which enables the issuance
of construction permits partly by the Province and partly by the Town of Zrenjanin, all in
order to please the Chinese investor and build “the largest tyre factory in the Balkans”
first, and only then to issue approval of the environment impact assessment study.

In its submission, the Gradjanski preokret NGO listed the key omissions of the submitted
study, in that:

First, the total production capacity of all plants was projected to produce 13.62 million
tyres a year, which implies daily delivery of inputs and auxiliary supplies and finished
product shipment from the factory (340 days a year, 24/7, 3 shifts) solely with large tow
trucks, which will pollute the air with exhaust fumes and dust, making an unbearable
noise on their way to factory, and since it is only two kilometres away from the special
nature reservation of “Carska Bara”, with 240 registered bird species, this area was
declared a Ramsar habitat and entered on UNESCO’s list of wetlands of international
importance, it is justifiable to ask the question of threat to the existing multiannual
ecosystem established.

Second, the residential units nearest to the factory site are in the Ečka rural settlement,
about 700 metres to the south, without an envisaged way to measure air pollution in
the area or to automatically alert the staff in the “Southeast” industrial zone and the
neighbouring population in case of harmful emission into the air.

Third, the factory is expected to get connected to the town’s water mains. Since the
public utility company ”Vodovod i kanalizacija” (water and sewage) is often unable to
provide adequate pressure in water pipes, especially in taller buildings and suburbs, the
connection of this gigantic plant to the existing local water network will have a negative
impact on water supply for Zrenjanin’s inhabitants and for the surrounding settlements.
12
Fourth, according to the study, the main hazard in production plants are potential fires
the effects of which could be heat radiation and toxicity of combustion products, with
potentially lethal outcome for humans, negative environment impact due to the air
emission of combustion products and no adequate fire protocols for such situations.

All the submitted objections before public debate unequivocally noted that the study
author had not completely analysed all the parameters and eliminated the most serious
risks to public health and environment in terms of scope and quality, demanding that
Linglong’s environment impact assessment study to be mandatorily developed as one
whole, and the application submitted to Zrenjanin’s local administration must be rejected
as unsuitable and submitted to incompetent authority.

Despite the numerous negative opinions, the local administration issued approval
of the study in the end of the process, and the scheduled public hearing turned into
additional violation of regulations. Using the anti-pandemic measures as an excuse,
the local authorities prevented about a hundred citizens who wanted to participate
in the public hearing, first with security guards and then with police intervention.
The places designated for this gathering in the hall were occupied by representatives
of the investor, study author, technical committee and journalists, while for citizens,
according to the calculation of the local administration on the necessary social distance
between the participants, there remained six chairs. Dissatisfied citizens protested
against the inability to participate, assessing that the public hearing turned into a farce.21

Citizens in front of
Zrenjanin’s local assembly
and inside the lobby,
prevented in their attempts
to participate in public
hearing

13
 After Zrenjanin’s local authorities issued the approval for the submitted study to Linglong,
Gradjanski preokret sued them before the Administrative Court in late October 2020,
demanding the annulment of their decision. In the suit it is stated that the challenged
decision was unlawful because the local administration is not in charge of its issuance,
because they did not observe the rules of the procedure and because they prevented
citizens from participating in the public hearing on the study.22 The Administrative Court
still hasn’t adjudicated the suit.

Five months later, the Provincial Secretariat for Town Planning and Environment
Protection scheduled a public hearing in Novi Sad, on another environment impact
assessment study referring to the remaining part of Linglong tyre factory, i.e., only to the
so-called tyre-manufacturing mixer. The news that public insight into the study was open
and that the public hearing would be held was published by the Provincial Secretariat in
the print edition of “Dnevnik” daily, as a minute advertisement on page 18. There was no
invitation published on the Secretariat web page, and the submitted Study could only
be found by those extremely apt for searching that internet portal. Thus, the practice
of shrewd hiding the information on this “project of special national interest” from the
general public continued, as well as on public hearings, because they are not available
in electronic form on the internet and they are printed in low-circulation newspapers not
distributed in the entire country. The invitation published by the Provincial Secretariat
abounded in attempts to discourage participation in this public hearing because it
included the request of pre-registration for all interested participants, and organisations
were allowed to delegate no more than two representatives respectively.

With expert support of the Renewables and environment Regulatory Institute (RERI) and
logistic support of the Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA),
Gradjanski preokret organised a workshop on participation in public hearings and
writing objections and opinions on the submitted study, organising then the transport
for interested citizens of Zrenjanin to the public hearing scheduled in Novi Sad.

Details from the workshop on writing objections to Linglong’s submitted study

14
After the workshop was held, more than 70 negative opinions of the study were submitted.

This caused a nervous reaction of the local branch of the ruling Serbian Progressive
Party, which released a communication calling the activists “destructive players of
nowadays minor political parties infiltrated into civic associations”, and naming CRTA
and Gradjanski preokret “Jacks of all trades”.23

In its opinion, Gradjanski preokret stated that the study should be rejected, besides the
formal reasons, also for significant content omissions, singling out the following:

1. The distance between residential area and factory complex is incorrectly stated, i.e.,
reduced, which means that precise field measurement was not applied.

2. The manner and instruments for measuring air pollution with products of combustion,
i.e., odours, sulphur and nitrogen compounds, sot and ashes.

3. The question of whether and how the citizens would be able to get informed in real time
of air pollution nearby the plant and in surrounding settlements, which is not possible in
Zrenjanin for the moment, remained unanswered.

4. The plant capacities, as well as those of the industrial zone and of Zrenjanin for fire
protection and rehabilitation from potential fire have not been stated.

5. The impact of several hundreds of tow trucks carrying raw materials to the factory
and finished products from the factory, with their noise, exhaust fumes and dust, on
environment pollution, especially on 240 bird species in the nature reservation of “Carska
Bara”, only two kilometres away.

6. The type of packaging for the hazardous waste processing oil and the time of storage
in the factory complex has not been specified.

7. The manner of treating waste cooling water has not been specified.

8. The impact of the connection of the factory complex to Zrenjanin’s water mains
network on the population’s health has not been reasoned, since the envisaged water
consumption is around 4,700 cubic metres daily, and Zrenjanin’s problems with water
quantity and pressure in water mains system are well known, with the old piping system
liable to frequent average.

9. No precise structure of “powdery matters“ that the plant will emit into the air has been
provided.

10. No precise techniques and protocols the plant would apply to protect air and water
have been identified.24

15
 In the written reply to the questions, the study processor, Belgrade’s company Enacta
d.o.o, confirmed that no precise measurements were performed for the distance
between the nearest settlement and factory complex and that the investor obtained
the agreement as a major consumer to get connected to the existing local water
infrastructure, although in Zrenjanin there have been problems with water quantity, i.e.,
pressure in the network for years now. The reply stated that Linglong would consider
drilling its own wells on the territory known as mixture of ground waters and explosive
methane. The study processor confirmed that no measurements of odours in Zrenjanin
were planned, i.e., that air quality after the tyre factory construction would be measured
in the same way as so far, with three measuring stations in town not registering such
a type of pollution. Linglong has not planned any measures of automatic alert in case
of emergency pollution emissions or incidents, neither within the factory complex nor
in the neighbouring settlements, reads the reply. In the opinion of the study processor,
hundreds of tow trucks entering and leaving the factory on a daily basis will not have a
negative impact on the special nature reservation of “Carska bara” two kilometres away,
i.e., on birds, as “contemporary trucks would be used for transport”.25

The public hearing on 18 February 2021 in Novi Sad was a sui generis replay of
Zrenjanin’s scenario, with the provincial authorities, using the anti-pandemic measures as
an excuse, intending to conduct the public hearing against the regulations, in cycles with
smaller groups. As such form of gathering is illegal and contrary to the logic of public
consultations where all voices should be heard, the assembled citizens, after one hour’s
persuasion with the provincial assistant secretary for environment protection, Nemanja
Erceg,26 remained protesting in front of the Provincial Institute for Environment Protection,
while the “public hearing” was taking place in its empty hall.27 The activists subsequently
went to the registry office of the provincial authorities to leave their submissions
complaining about the deprivation of their right to participation in the public hearing.

Public hearing with no public in Novi Sad

16
In July 2021, Gradjanski preokret submitted a suit to the Administrative Court against
the Provincial Secretariat for Town Planning and Environment Protection, due to the
approval of the partial environment impact assessment study it had issued to Linglong,
demanding the annulment of the act for its deficient contents and infringed procedure.
The Administrative Court has not deliberated on the suit yet.28

Diplomatic messages

About the Linglong cause, the civic activists from Zrenjanin addressed the Embassies
of China and United States of America, as well as the Delegation of the European Union
to Serbia.

In March 2020, the Chinese Embassy to Serbia was informed with a letter that the Town
of Zrenjanin had issued an unlawful construction permit to the Linglong company.
The activists’ letter to HE Ambassador Chen Bo clarified that the construction permit
had been issued by an authority not competent for that, and that the issuance procedure
omitted the necessary part of the competent authority’s declaration on whether it was
necessary to conduct an environment impact assessment study, as well as the fact
that in Serbia, construction without valid permits is criminalised. The Ambassador was
invited to exert influence on the Linglong to observe the regulations of Serbia.29

In September 2020, immediately after signing the “Washington Agreement”30, the

activists addressed the Embassy of the United States of America to Serbia expressing
their satisfaction that the USA had demonstrated an enhanced interest and efforts for
our region’s economic progress. The US Embassy was informed of suspension of the
free market, disregard of the legislation and infringement of democratic standards
in Serbia, all in order for the Linglong company to penetrate the European market on
privileged terms. They voiced their hope that the USA, as world’s leading advocate of the
rule of law, democracy and free market, would use its influence and authority to remove
the negative trends related to the Linglong investment in Serbia.31

In December 2020, the activists sent a letter to Sem Fabrizi, Head of the EU Delegation
to Serbia, immediately after his address at the session of the parliamentary Committee
for European Integration. This letter got Mr. Fabrizi better familiar with details of trends
in contravention of his assertion that “Serbia has got a moderate to good preparedness
as a functional market economy” and that in case of Linglong, Serbia demonstrated
a dramatic deviation from the rule of law, market economy, freedom of the press and
respect for human rights.32

The Chinese Embassy in Belgrade never replied to Gradjanski preokret, and the US
Embassy and EU Delegation to Serbia diplomatically replied reminding of joint efforts
with Serbian authorities to make progress in the rule of law and environment protection.
17
 Protests and incidents

The first major rally where the suspension of Linglong tyre factory construction was
demanded was held in Zrenjanin in August 2020, within the initiative of “Make the odours
go“, conducted by the Civil Movement over the summer, with the support of the Center for
Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA).33 In the beginning, the gathering was
addressed by “Smrda“ (“Odour“), Zrenjanin’s future citizen. It was a performance – a doll
wearing tyres, with protective (gas) mask on its head and balloons filled with dirty water
in its hands. Smrda highlighted its progressive nature: able to drink poisonous water and
breathe poisonous air, eat plastic, live without a brain and balls, without descendants.
More than 300 citizens signed four requests on that occasion, one of which was to ban
construction works in Linglong. The requests were submitted to the local administration
who completely ignored them.34

“Smrda – Zrenjanin’s future citizen” in the main town square, summer 2020

In early 2021, on Orthodox Christmas, the “Stop Linglong“ graffiti appeared on the wall of
a Zrenjanin’s downtown building, below the mural dedicated to the departured Serbian
Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej. Nobody claimed the responsibility for the guerrilla
action publicly, and the town officials condemned the graffiti, rapidly removing it.

On 18 May 2021, the first in a range of incidents with the Linglong construction site
security took place. Uniformed persons of Asian origin, one wearing a dark blue uniform

18
similar to police officer’s and another one in a military-style camouflage uniform, tried
to prevent a civic activist from giving his statement to a Dutch TV. In the middle of the
interview, taking place on a public road a few metres away from the site, they leaped
among the cameras and activists. Then spread a tent wing in front of the camera,
came into the journalist’s face, took photos of the protesters’ faces and of the vehicles’
registration plates.35 A few days later, the TV crew of NewsMax Adria Television had a
similar experience.36 According to the testimonials of some activists, Serbian police also
occasionally took an active part in preventing the access to the factory.37

Uniformed foreigners preventing the work of journalists in a public road off Zrenjanin

On 24 August 2021, Zrenjanin’s activists made a “warning roadblock“ for Linglong.

Their vehicles blocked the roundabout in the Belgrade-Zrenjanin highway, near the
factory’s construction site. This block was not announced and it caused congestion and
long columns of vehicles in both directions. On that occasion, demands were voiced
for construction inspectors to urgently implement its own orders and remove the illicit
building within Linglong’s construction site, and for the Administrative Court to urgently
adjudicate the lawsuits filed against the local and provincial authorities who enabled
the illicit building. The vehicles that blocked the road were carrying captions “If there
is no justice in institutions, it will be in the streets”.38 The government responded with
threats of misdemeanour cases. The owners of the blocking vehicles received letters
from the police inviting them to declare who had steered their cars, notifying them that
those persons would have to pay fines for irregular parking. They replied to the police
with letters demanding to stay the misdemeanours proceedings, as they acted out of
necessity, having exhausted all legal remedies, in order to remove the irregularities and
unlawfulness caused by the construction of the Linglong tyre factory. They emphasised
that before the roadblocks, during two years, alone or together with other citizens, they
had been flagging the threat and hazard of constructing that factory in an institutional
way, referring to the local and provincial administration, inspectorate, prosecutor’s office
and court.39
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 Roadblocks of the highway nearby the Linglong construction site, 24 August 2021

Civic activists have long pointed to the illegally built and substandard containers for
placement of Chinese builders of the Linglong tyre factory, and it turned out that the
construction workers from Vietnam had been in a far worse situation, which only
became known in November 2021, as the shed where they were placed are hidden deep
into the agricultural area, behind the construction site. Akin to a camp, reminding to
the horror film scenes, it was discovered by the Voice portal journalist Ivana Gordić
Perc, and after the feature was broadcast on N1 TV,40 the topic ended up as subject of
discussion in the European Parliament, the resolution of which requested from Serbia
a complete investigation of the case, respect for human rights, free and unrestricted
access to the Linglong factory in Zrenjanin and to the accommodation facilities for
the Vietnamese workers to be enabled for civil society activists, EU officials and other
representatives of international organisations. Through the resolution, the European
parliamentarians voiced their concern about the growing Chinese influence in Serbia.41
Serbian authorities claimed that the assertions of human trafficking were false and
malevolent, and that Linglong’s construction site was among the best controlled in
Serbia. More organisations got involved with collection of humanitarian and provision of
legal aid to the Vietnamese workers.42 This problem was concealed by the relocation of
the construction workers to several other places, and nobody has been held accountable
for their treatment and for infringement of a number of regulations.43 While reporting on
the fate of the Vietnamese workers, journalists were again facing violent behaviour of
individual Linglong employees. The prosecutor’s office dismissed the criminal charges
pressed by the N1 journalist Ksenija Pavkov against one of the identified offenders,
Chen Pengui.44 Civic activists therefore demanded that the work of Zrenjanin’s Basic
Prosecutor’s Office be reconsidered and asked the Government of Serbia whether PR
China’s security forces were deployed in Serbia and where, on what grounds, what their
powers were and whether they were granted immunity to prosecution by a legal act.45

20
When roadblocks were organised across Serbia in late 2021, as a form of civic pressure
on the government, requesting to withdraw the expropriation bill and amendments to
the referendum and popular initiatives law, the citizens of Zrenjanin gathered in the most
logical venue for that, the highway to Belgrade, nearby Linglong. They used this protest
to articulate their request to stay the construction of the factory they consider extremely
harmful.46

Roadblocks near Linglong, 4 December 2021

21
 Public information

One of the broader and most significant aspects of civic activists’ engagement was
tearing down the information barrier and generating interest of media and public on the
facts and developments related to the construction of Linglong’s tyre factory. Over the
three years of monitoring the investment, they have issued hundreds of communications,
gone public with dozens of documents and given statements to domestic and foreign
media. They were hosts to media crews from Poland, Bulgaria, Italy47, the Netherlands48,
Germany and the United States of America49. They participated in creation of two TV
documentaries: “Zrenjanin: “The Government’s ping-pong with citizens”, recorded by the
JSP production50 and “Underneath the surface: Linglong’s ping-pong” recorded by the
N1 television51.

They conducted a several-month campaign “against capital machinations”, within

which they used written and multimedia contents52, but also street talks, e.g., on the
International Clear Air Day, 3 November 202153, to provide their fellow citizens with
factual information on Linglong, concealed by the pro-regime media.

Their constant monitoring of Linglong has made them live reporters sui generis, so
many media have used their footages and videos for their reports. One of the latest such
cases happened in mid-December 2021, when they were recording the nexus between
the tyre factory and the Begej River with large-diameter pipes.54

An activist of NGO Gradjanski preokret facing the pipes connecting

Linglong to the Begej River

22
During spring 2022, the Gradjanski preokret NGO organised five panel discussions in
Zrenjanin, to shed light on the cooperation between Serbia and China, with a special
focus on the Linglong case. The panels were technical, thematic, with two respective
keynote speakers being economists, political scientists, biologists, sociologists and
lawyers. Observing the situation from various aspects, the experts agreed that the
projects like Linglong tyre factory could be expected to bring nothing good.55

For older citizens of the Ečka village, in the closest proximity of Linglong, who were not
able to attend the panels, nor can they view the videos on the internet, the activists have
printed out the reports from the events in form of bulletins and distributed them from
door to door.56

Judging by the events during the past year: by Linglong’s economic power and the
political power of those backing the investment in Serbia on the one hand, but also the
resoluteness and tenacity of the civic activists to prevent the tyre factory in Zrenjanin, or
at least to coerce it to observe the regulations, on the other – they will keep at it.

23
 Endnotes
1 https://www.danas.rs/vesti/ekonomija/gradjanski-preokret-direkcija-za-imovinu-skriva-ugov-
or-o-poklanjanju-zemljista-linglongu/
2 https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/gradjanski-preokret-gumara-nice-na-njivama-prve-klase-
video/
3 https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/gradjanski-preokret-sandong-linglong-nema-studiju-o-pro-
ceni-uticaja-na-okolinu-u-zrenjaninu/
4 https://www.zrklik.com/2019/05/gradjanski-preokret-sprovodi-akciju-zemlja-se-ne-poklan-
ja-zdravlje-se-ne-prodaje/
5 https://www.novimagazin.rs/vesti/200171-gradjanski-preokret-problem-zagaenja-zrenjani-
na-postace-regionalan
6 https://novaekonomija.rs/vesti-iz-zemlje/zrenjanin-poklonio-pet-miliona-evra-kinezima
7 https://novaekonomija.rs/vesti-iz-zemlje/poklon-dr%C5%BEave-kineskom-investitoru-i-hek-
tari-i-avionska-pista
8 https://www.kkdp.gov.rs/doc/odluke/2020/Linglong-sken.pdf
9 https://www.reri.org.rs/drzavna-pomoc-dodeljena-kompaniji-linglong-tire-nije-u-skladu-sa-za-
konom/
10 https://nova.rs/vesti/drustvo/vodovod-za-linglong-a-zrenjaninci-17-godina-bez-pijace-vode/
11 https://www.021.rs/story/Info/Vojvodina/246046/Gradjanski-preokret-zahte-
va-prestanak-izgradnje-fabrike-guma-u-Zrenjaninu.html
12 https://voice.org.rs/reri-pokrajinska-vlast-krsi-zakon-linglong-mora-da-izradi-jedinstve-
nu-studiju-uticaja-na-zivotnu-sredinu/
13 https://informer.rs/vesti/drustvo/534021/nvo-koje-finansira-sad-lazima-napale-kineske-kom-
panije-koje-srbiju-ulozile-milijarde-evra-zaposlile-hiljade-ljudi
14 https://balkangreenenergynews.com/rs/gradanski-preokret-podneo-krivicne-prijave-protiv-lin-
glonga-zbog-nelegalne-gradnje-fabrike-guma/
15 https://www.danas.rs/vesti/ekonomija/gradjanski-preokret-uprkos-resenju-o-rusenju-lin-
glong-i-dalje-gradi/
16 https://rs.n1info.com/vesti/gradjanski-preokret-tuzio-pokrajinski-organ-trazi-da-ponisti-doz-
volu-linglongu/
17 https://beta.rs/ekonomija/ekonomija-srbija/156845-gradjanski-preokret-ministar-grad-
jevinarstva-potvrdio-nelegalnu-gradnju-linglonga
18 https://www.021.rs/story/Info/Vojvodina/263318/Pored-Linglonga-nice-gra-
dilisni-kamp-za-stotine-kineskih-radnika-aktivisti-upozoravaju-na-krsenje-zakona.html
19 https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/resenje-o-rusenju-kineskog-kampa-ponisteno/
20 https://novaekonomija.rs/vesti-iz-zemlje/u-e%C4%8Dkoj-kod-zrenjanina-planiraju-se-stanovi-
za-3000-radnika-iz-kine
21 https://nova.rs/vesti/drustvo/zvanicnici-opstruirali-javnu-raspravu-gradani-ostali-u-holu/
22 https://www.021.rs/story/Info/Vojvodina/256491/Gradjanski-preokret-tuzio-Gradsku-upra-
vu-Zrenjanina-zbog-Linglonga.html
23 https://www.facebook.com/snszrenjanin/photo/a.1274672399216174/4341283689221681/
24 https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/gradjanski-preokret-odbiti-studiju-linglonga/

24
25 https://gradjanskipreokret.rs/index.php/2021/03/30/pokrajinski-sekretarijat-postupa-kao-fo-
tokopirnica-linglonga/
26 http://www.ekourbapv.vojvodina.gov.rs/rs/%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B8%D0%BD%D
0%B5%D1%82-%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B0/
pomocnik-sekretara-nemanja-erceg/
27 https://www.021.rs/story/Novi-Sad/Vesti/266440/FOTO-Javna-rasprava-o-zrenjaninskoj-fa-
brici-guma-bez-prisustva-javnosti.html
28 https://novaekonomija.rs/vesti-iz-zemlje/gra%C4%91anski-preokret-zbog-linglon-
ga-tu%C5%BEio-i-pokrajinski-sekretarijat-za-urbanizam
29 https://www.danas.rs/vesti/politika/pismo-kineskoj-ambasadi-linglong-da-ne-gradi-s-neza-
konitom-dozvolom/
30 https://rs.n1info.com/vesti/a636581-tekst-sporazuma-beograd-pristina/
31 https://www.danas.rs/vesti/politika/gradjanski-preokret-obavestili-smo-sad-o-suspenziji-slo-
bodnog-trzista/
32 https://autonomija.info/gradjanski-preokret-u-pismu-fabriciju-ukazao-na-krsenja-trzisnih-principa/
33 https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/protest-ispred-gradske-kuce-u-zrenjaninu-da-smradovi-
odu-video/
34 https://www.021.rs/story/Info/Vojvodina/253492/Vise-od-300-Zrenjaninaca-potpisalo-
zahteve-u-sklopu-akcije-Da-smradovi-odu.html
35 https://rs.n1info.com/vesti/obezbedjenje-gradilista-linglonga-sprecilo-holandske-novin-
are-da-snime-prilog/
36 https://nova.rs/emisije/o-desavanju-ispred-linglonga-ko-su-ljudi-u-uniformama/
37 https://www.021.rs/story/Novi-Sad/Vesti/276240/VIDEO-Novosadske-aktiviste-policija-spre-
cila-da-pridju-gradilistu-kineske-fabrike-Ling-long.html
38 https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/zrenjaninci-blokada-puta-fabrika-linglong/31426336.html
39 https://rs.n1info.com/vesti/gradjanski-preokret-pretnja-kaznama-za-nepropisno-parkiran-
je-zbog-linglonga/
40 https://rs.n1info.com/vesti/vijetnamski-radnici-iz-linglonga-nemamo-vodu-ni-stru-
ju-sve-je-lose-i-prljavo/
41 https://www.glasamerike.net/a/evropski-parlament-srbija-linglong-protesti/6357317.html
42 https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/uprkos-obezbedjenju-i-inspekciji-vijetnamcima-uruce-
na-pomoc/
43 https://www.vreme.com/dodatno/4590265/
44 https://rs.n1info.com/vesti/tuzilastvo-odbacilo-prijavu-novinarke-n1-protiv-kineza-ko-
ji-je-blokirao-put/
45 https://www.cenzolovka.rs/pritisci-i-napadi/gradjanski-preokret-ispitati-rad-tuzilaca-zbog-od-
bacivanja-prijave-novinarke-n1/
46 https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/mirna-blokada-u-zrenjaninu-odrzana-kod-linglonga/
47 https://ilpiccolo.gelocal.it/trieste/cronaca/2021/04/04/news/serbia-esplode-il-caso-dei-la-
ger-per-operai-che-sfruttano-la-manodopera-cinese-1.40111612
48 https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2383220-hoe-china-vaccins-maar-ook-censuur-naar-servie-
brengt
49 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/22/world/europe/china-serbia-vietnamese-workers.html
50 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQtApeBZYh4

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 51 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkO2tybhm8g
52 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tysPpvyriQ
53 https://www.glasamerike.net/a/srbija-zrenjanin-linglong-fabrika-protest-gradjans-
ki-preokret-zagadjenje/6298667.html
54 https://nova.rs/vesti/drustvo/linglong-se-povezuje-s-rekom-cevima-precnika-15-metar-video/
55 https://www.danas.rs/vesti/ekonomija/diskusije-o-kineskom-uticaju-u-srbiji-nasa-tr-
ka-ka-dnu/
56 http://gradjanskipreokret.rs/video/biltenku1.pdf
57 http://gradjanskipreokret.rs/video/biltenku1.pdf

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