Environmentalists are up in arms, organising a vigil and signing a petition that will be subsequently submitted to the Bourgas Municipality, aimed at relocating the Spirit of Bourgas Festival from the central seafront of the town, the Bulgarian news agency the BTA has reported.

"Chista Priroda" Serene Nature spokesperson has said that the festival causes severe environmental problems to the seafront and the Sea Garden (Morskata Gradina). According to activists, a combination of factors, the first of which is the construction of seven stages and a camping park in the sea garden, for the second year running, have had an irreversible and permanent effect on flora and fauna.

"The damages will be significant," ecologists have said, as quoted by the BTA.

"If we take history and statistics into an account, what happened last year is likely to be exacerbated ever further this time around," they said.

Construction, the gathering of tens of thousands of people, hundreds of tents, the lack of adequate toilet facilities, or enough of them, the lack of adequate parking space and pollution from plastic refuse and discarded bottles, had caused "absolute chaos" and "considerable damage" to the environment in 2008.

In the designated "festival zone" a camping site has been allocated that will have capacity for 3000 people, but with the possibility of expansion. The camping site will be 'ready' to accommodate festival goers on August 14 until the end of the festival, August 17.

Eco activists fear that after this latest edition of the Spirit of Bourgas Festival, the Sea Garden will be transformed irreversibly for the worse.