Ex US Diplomat, German Ambassador Meet with Protesting Bulgarian Students

Former US Ambassador in Sofia (2002 – 2005) James Pardew, photo by www.nato.int

Boris Angelov, a Sofia University protesting student, confirmed Tuesday morning earlier reports that former US Ambassador James Pardew has visited the school on Monday.

Angelov and other students say the former diplomat has not been invited, but arrived to visit them on his own initiative and as a private person.

There is no information about the subject of the conversation between Pardew and the students.

Before his visit, a small group of protesting students has been accepted at the German Embassy by Ambassador Matthias Hoepfner. The meeting has lasted for about an hour and a half, the students later reported, and revolved around the pro and anti-government protests, the extreme nationalism, and the role of the media.

Meanwhile, speaking in the Parliament Tuesday, the leader of the extreme nationalist party Ataka, Volen Siderov, said that Pardew's visit was a clear indication who was financing, inspiring and encouraging student occupations.

"The US, likely, does not like the fact that the Russian-sponsored gas pipeline will be built in Bulgaria, a project profitable for our country and other countries in Europe, but contradictory to the American geopolitical doctrine," said he.

A day earlier, on Monday morning, the elite Sofia University campus woke up fully occupied, its doors locked with padlocks and chains, in anti-governmental protest.

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