Left-Wingers Accuse Bulgarian Govt of Staging Fake Protests

Bulgarian citizens block the E-79 internaitonal road in a "protest" instigated by the Bulgarian government against the veto. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's ruling centrist-right GERB has forced forest rangers to "protest" against the presidential veto imposed on the country's much debated Forestry Act, the left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) has stated.

According to Dimcho Mohalevski, a BSP MP from the town of Smolyan, rangers have been forced to join the upcoming rally on Wednesday.

Some employees have been allegedly threatened that they will lose their jobs if they do not attend the rally that is scheduled to take place in the capital Sofia.

BSP believes that the pro-Forestry Act protests have been organized by Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov, who called upon small municipalities to defend the controversial piece of legislation already on Saturday.

BSP leader Sergey Stanishev has accused Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov of using agent provocateurs in an attempt to mar the peaceful environmentalist protests against the amendments to the Forestry Act.

The Forestry Act that would allow the construction of ski tracks and lifts without changing the status of the land was passed by the Parliament on Wednesday. On Saturday, Bulgarian President, Rosen Pleveneliev issued a veto on all of its texts.

Thousands of Bulgarian nature lovers and other citizens opposing the Forestry Act have been staging protest rallies in the area of the key intersection of Orlov Most (Eagles Bridge) in Sofia ever since Wednesday evening.

About 500 people from the winter resorts of Bansko and Razlog gathered Sunday near the town of Simitli in a rally backing the amendments to the Forestry Act, passed by the Parliament last Wednesday.

The protest, widely-believed to be staged by the "Nature for People and Regions" coalition funded by notorious businessman Tseko Minev, was staffed by several hundred citizens from the mountainous Blagoevgrad region.

Another counter-protest was held Monday with a blockade of E-79 by the people from the towns of Dupnitsa and Sapareva Banya. The blockade lasted about 15 minutes.

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