site.btaMajor Road Junction for Eastern Bulgaria Blocked by Farmers after First Day of Protests, Combine Harvesters Head for Sofia

A key junction near Yambol (Southeastern Bulgaria) was blocked for over eight hours on Monday by farmers disgruntled with the government's agricultural policy. Several arteries of traffic from West to East and Southeast gather at that junction. Other major roads were also blocked, although the Interior Ministry said the protests had ended in many places.

The organizers said some of the tractors and combine harvesters had left for Sofia where a national protest is scheduled for Tuesday.

The protests were provoked by the lifting of a ban on Ukrainian food imports by the Bulgarian Parliament on September 14.

Tsvetan Berberov, member of the Management Board of the Thracian Union of Grain Producers, told BTA that gendarmerie and police had blocked the columns of protesters with farming machinery at the eastern entrance to Kazanlak (Central Bulgaria). The organizers said they did not know the reason for this. He said he expected clashed with the authorities in Sofia, adding that it was a peaceful protest and they were "not going to war".

On Monday morning, farmers blocked over forty important roads and border crossings. The protest organizers urged people to refrain from travelling unless it is a matter of emergency. The Interior Ministry said that "the entire personnel is engaged in ensuring public order" during the protests.

Some 26 branch organizations from across the sector are taking part in the protest, the Bulgarian Farmers Union said.

The protesters blocked the Danube Bridge border crossing with Romania; the road to and from Danube Bridge 2 was blocked as well. The road from Kardam to the border with Romania was blocked for heavy duty trucks only.

The leadership of the Bulgarian Farmers Union gathered at an air field in Byala Slatina, where all agricultural machinery from the region was pulled out. "We apologize to the citizens and warn them to postpone planned trips on September 18 and 19, as main roads will be closed across the country," said Georgi Stoyanov, chairman of the Union.

Effective protest actions will continue until all demands are met, Stoyanov said. 

The industry has five demands for the government - to continue the ban on imports of agricultural goods from Ukraine, to extend the ban to fruit, vegetables, meat, milk and honey; to pay farmers the full amount of compensation for losses due to the war in Ukraine by September 30; and to pay with immediate effect state aid for areas lost to natural disasters. The protesters also want additional state aid funds and an easing of the conditions of the Strategic Plan interventions.

The initiative committee for the indefinite effective protest actions to save Bulgarian agriculture insists that attention should not be focused exclusively on grain producers, as the protest actions involve the entire industry, including livestock farmers, beekeepers, fruit and vegetable growers.