Eco Protesters Flood Downtown Sofia over Court Ruling

Some 100 environmentalists gathered spontaneously in the downtown of the Bulgarian capital Sofia after the Supreme Administrative Court revoked a ban on new ski tracks in the Vitosha Mountain.

The eco-activists gathered around the Monument of Patriarch Evtimiy in the very downtown blockading briefly the traffic on the Partiarch Evtimuy Blvd, Vasil Levski Blvd, and Graf Ignatiev Str.

The representatives of environmental NGOs and the “For the Nature” coalition protested against the ruling of the Supreme Administrative Court announced Friday night to revoke the decision of Environment Minister, Nona Karadzhova, related to the project to build a new ski zone in the Vitosha Mountain near Sofia.

In October 2009, Karadzhova annulled the positive assessment the expert council at the Regional Inspectorate for Environment and Waters (RIOSV) which gave green light to the company “Vitosha Ski” to build new ski tracks and tourist facilities in the mountain.

The environmentalists sought to alert the public that Bulgaria might face an infringement procedure by the European Commission.

The impromptu protest was contained by the police and the traffic in downtown Sofia was restored shortly after that.

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