Bulgaria Sees Largest Tobacco Growers' Protest Ever

Some 10 000 tobacco growers blockaded Bulgaria's major international road to Turkey demanding the Cabinet's resignation.

What has been described as the largest ever protest rally of tobacco growers was supported by activists of the opposition ethnic Turkish party DPS (Movement for Rights and Freedoms). The tobacco growers' issues are traditionally promoted by the DPS as many of the tobacco growers are ethnic Turks or ethnic Bulgarian Muslims.

In addition to the government's resignation, the protesters demanded higher prices for the tobacco produced by them, and the same subsidies as the ones they got in 2010.

The Trakiya Highway was blockaded east of Plovdiv for several hours. The rally did not lead to clashes with the riot police. The DPS party said it did not organize the protest but supported it.

The Bulgarian tobacco growers demanded that the government should re-negotiate with the European Commission the conditions for supporting the tobacco production sector.