site.btaUPDATED Taxi Drivers Stage New Protest Against Increase of Third Party Liability Insurance
Protesting taxi drivers gathered next to the building of the Bulgarian National Bank in central Sofia on Friday morning. They are protesting over the rise of third-party liability insurance. Drivers from Sofia and other cities arrived in taxis.
“I don't want to pay BGN 2,000 per year,” one of the drivers, Daniel Malinov, from Dupnitsa, told journalists. “In general, work is scarce and with this increase in prices we can’t cope,” he added. “We want premiums to be normal, like those of drivers. We are not risky,” said his colleague Krasimir Georgiev.
“We want all prices to be capped and return to summer levels,” Kiril Kirilov of the trade union of taxi drivers told reporters. He explained that they will also submit their request to the National Assembly. He said the drivers would expect MPs to meet them and say whether they would support a legislative solution.
Later, MPs from the parliamentary group of Vazrazhdane came to meet the protesters. They expressed support for the taxi drivers' demands. MP Emil Yankov said he was a former taxi driver. He added that he perceives developments in the industry as discrimination. In his words, a bill is nearly ready to be submitted to parliament and resolve the problem completely.
There was an increased police presence in the area, but there was no traffic restriction.
Later on Friday, the taxi drivers held a walking procession. They were waving Bulgarian flags and chanting "Mafia". The protesters' chants intensified after they reached the Association of Bulgarian Insurers, where traffic was restricted because of the procession. The protesters brought collected pennies, placed in a bowl and hat. Some of them entered the Association's building to deliver their protest note, then poured the pennies at the entrance of the organization. "We continue to seek our rights through legal means, we are giving until the end of January," they warned. They then returned to the assembly point in the parking lot next to the Bulgarian National Bank.
/DS/
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