Environmentalists from the coalition For the Nature in Bulgaria protested in front of the Ministry of Environment and Water. According to the protesters, there is a lack of will on the part of the state to protect valuable corners of nature. They also protested against the dismissal of the directors of the national parks "Rila" and "Pirin", as well as against decisions related to the construction of the Struma motorway. Environmentalists claim that a project by a private consulting firm was accepted instead of a proposal prepared by scientists.

 "The new National Council for Biological Diversity at the Ministry of Environment and Water, in which existing conservation organisations were replaced by the Union of Landscape Architects, made months of work meaningless and postponed for an indefinite period the resolution to the Struma motorway construction," the environmentalists said.