Probe Launched into Demolition of Plovdiv's Tobacco Warehouse

A human chain saved the warehouse's facade on Sunday, March 06, 2016. BGNES

Pretrial proceedings have been launched into the demolition of an old building in Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second-largest city, the prosecution has said.

A former tobacco warehouse was almost completely razed over the weekend, with citizens' action that stopped the bulldozers saving the facade. The building is part of a cultural heritage area, but the owners reportedly provided the municipality with a fake document claiming otherwise.

The economic police will be in charge of the case.

Separately, electricity distribution operator EVN Bulgaria submitted a claim saying the demolition had not been coordinated with it, and a power substation was currently buried beneath the rubble. The development could possibly result in power outages, daily Dnevnik.bg reports EVN as saying.