site.btaThousands Protest in Sofia in Memory of Child Killed in March 31 Crash

Thousands gathered outside St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia Sunday for a peaceful protest in memory of the 12-year-old Bulgarian child killed in a car crash on March 31. The event was held under the slogan “We are Siyana!” [the name of the child].

Siyana lost her life in a crash at the national road I-3 in the section between the villages of Telish and Radomirtsi. On Saturday, protesters in cities across the country demanded the “war” on roads stop and called for legilsative changes and tougher penalties for those responsible for road accidents.

"This pain is not going away and will never go away, our strength is in making sure it never happens again," said Siyana's father, Nikolay Popov. "Only together can we change this, only together can we make the institutions do their job, only together can we get the people who hide signals in their drawers out of these institutions," he added.

Popov noted that their demands are not political, but public. "We want to move on normal roads, we want to have laws that are enforced and institutions that react immediately, not when someone dies," he stressed.

Those gathered observed a minute of silence in memory of the children who died in accidents. Popov appealed to everyone to enter the temple and light a candle for the people killed on the road. 

"Our nation woke up and that is a fact. All those who gathered today and yesterday, all those who called me and wrote to me on social networks, this is the support of the people," Popov told the media. He thanked everyone present and urged them to channel this strength in a positive direction.

Popov called the media to ask the prosecution service and the responsible authorities why only the driver of the truck was arrested, as he was not the only one to blame. "Changes follow from here. We want changes in laws, safe driving ranges, normal roads and a law on the responsibility of public officials," he said, adding that there will be protests until these demands are met and change is seen.