SALON

Sunday, Feb 17, 2013 3:45 PM UTC

Bulgarians protest foreign power companies

By

Topics: From the Wires,

Bulgarians protest foreign power companiesBulgarians shout slogans and carry poster reading "CEZ - Czech pirates" as they protest against higher electricity and heating bills, in Sofia, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013. Thousands of angry Bulgarians chanted "mafia" and "resignation" demanded the expulsion of the three foreign-controlled power distributors that control the local market: Czech Republic's CEZ and Energo-Pro, and Austria's EVN (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)(Credit: AP)

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Thousands of Bulgarians protested on Sunday against rising electricity and heating bills, and police clashed with demonstrators throwing eggs and tomatoes at government buildings.

The violence occurred in Sofia, the capital, when riot police struggled to keep demonstrators away from public buildings, but no injuries were immediately reported. Large parts of the city center remained blocked off for hours.

Similar rallies occurred in other cities across the country, with some temporarily blocking traffic on major highways.

Earlier, the protesters in Sofia burned their utility bills in public, accusing the government of failing to improve their falling living standards and demanding the expulsion of the three foreign-controlled power distributors that control the local market: CEZ and Energo-Pro from the Czech Republic, and Austria’s EVN.

In January, Albania revoked the license of CEZ and announced that electricity distribution would return to government control, but experts in Bulgaria have expressed doubt the government can legally do that.

Bulgaria, which joined the European Union in 2007, is the bloc’s poorest member country, with an average monthly salary of €360 ($480) and an average pension of €150 ($200).

The ruling center-right party of Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, which won parliamentary elections in 2009, has been steadily losing public support in the wake of the country’s worst economic downturn in a decade.

Elections in July are expected to be a close race between the incumbents and the opposition Socialist party.

More By Veselin Toshkov.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Journalists file suit against Manning's trial secrecy: Plaintiffs including Glenn Greenwald and Julian Assange demand press, public access to trial and documents
151 points152 points | comment
vote
Kaitlyn Hunt refuses plea offer, will go to court over high school relationship - The 18-year-old rejected a deal that would have labeled her a sex offender and placed her under house arrest
134 points135 points | 93 comments
vote
Report: Nearly a quarter of Americans struggle to afford food
131 points132 points | 12 comments
vote
Kaitlyn Hunt refuses plea offer, will go to court over high school relationship - The 18-year-old rejected a deal that would have labeled her a sex offender and placed her under house arrest
122 points123 points | 38 comments
vote
Ted Cruz against the world - How the Junior Senator is igniting the GOP civil war
79 points80 points | 19 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations