Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

Protesting farmers block major roads and border crossings

| updated on 9/18/23 3:49 PM
Photo: BTA

Bulgarian farmers started to block major roads and border crossings across the country. 26 branch organisations announced they were embarking on an indefinite nationwide protest in the agriculture sector. They claim that more than 900,000 people are affected by the country’s decision to waive the ban on imports of agricultural products from Ukraine. 

The protesting farmers demand not only that the ban on the import of grain from Ukraine shlould continue, but also to extend it with a veto on fruits, vegetables, meat, milk and honey.

Protesters closed more than 40 major roads in a bid to save the Bulgarian agriculture. 

Georgi Milev, Deputy Chairman of the National Grain Producers Association, called on the public to travel only in case of extreme necessity because there is heavy machinery on the roads. 

The Sliven region was blocked in two places by the farmers' protests today - the Petolatchka road junction and on the main road Sofia - Burgas in the area of the so-called Yambol clover junction. In Vidin, farmers blocked traffic to the border crossing at Danube Bridge 2, and in Blagoevgrad region - the E-79 road.

"If things don't change, this will bring me to bankruptcy. Everything is just lying in my warehouses, prices are very low, the cost per acre is high. We are ordinary workers who breathe the ashes from morning to night, we are not terrorists", Ivan Blagoev from the village of Kobilyak, who cultivates 1,600 decares, told BNR correspondent Lyubo Andreev, on the occasion of Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov's remark on Saturday, "I do not negotiate with terrorists" about the grain producers' protests. 
"I support them, of course. We don't want grain to be imported from Ukraine for the simple reason that our people have companies, pay salaries, have a lot of expenses. Should they go bankrupt in the name of some wrong policy?", commented Ventsislav Yosifov, who had to wait for the column of protesters.

On September 19 the protesters are expected to arrive with their machinery in Sofia to protest in front of the Council of Ministers building. Police are trying to prevent significant roadblocks. Protesters demand the government’s resignation.




Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Radostin Iliev

Defense spending should reach 2.5% of GDP: Defense Minister

It is our intention that even with the 2025 budget, defense spending will reach a higher level than 2.5% of the Gross Domestic Product, said the Deputy Minister of Defense Radostin Iliev during the commemoration of the Day of the Military Parachutist in..

published on 10/17/24 7:22 PM

Autumn sunshine and cooler temperatures

Friday will be sunny. There will be light to moderate easterly winds, except in eastern Bulgaria, where gusts will come from the north. Minimum temperatures will be between 2°C and 3°C, along the Black Sea up to 6°C-8°C, in Sofia - around 0°C. Maximum..

published on 10/17/24 7:05 PM

Bar associations call on SJC to suspend election of new Prosecutor General and President of SAC

Twenty-five bar associations from across the country have called on the Supreme Judicial Council, which has an expired mandate, to suspend the process of electing a new Prosecutor General and a new President of the Supreme Administrative Court. They..

published on 10/17/24 4:38 PM