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

Reading voters get a book as a present

Polling day in Reading, south-east England, is going smoothly. About 300 people are expected to vote. The town's only polling station uses only paper ballots. This is the second time the polling station has been moved to a new address, but it is not..

published on 10/27/24 10:12 PM

Svetlana Kaneva: Bulgarians in London also show election fatigue, distrust of politicians and reluctance to vote 

Election day was peaceful for Bulgarians in London, ending two hours later than at home.  However, one of the largest Bulgarian communities in a European capital, the one in London, did not go to the polls today in the numbers that we remember from the..

published on 10/27/24 9:29 PM
Boyko Borissov

UPDATED: Political forces react to early results

The exit polls from all the polling agencies show that GERB-SDS, led by Boyko Borissov, is clearly the number one political force in the future 51st Bulgarian Parliament. In recent years, the party has refrained from commenting before the final results..

published on 10/27/24 9:05 PM