Separeva Banya mayor Sasho Ivanov will be fined because he did not inform the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water Affairs (RIEW) that the repair of the road between Panichishte and Pionerska hut had started or about the construction of a ski lift in this area of Rila Mountain. Both projects are a part of the Super Panichishte project, which would see the construction of lifts and 21 ski runs over 1.8 sq km in the protected area of the mountain, as reported by The Sofia Echo on August 31.

Following a series of protests in Rila, and warning from citizens and environmentalists sent to the Ministry of Environment and Water Affairs (MOEW) because of the illegal construction work in Rila,  Environmental Minister Djevdet Chakurov ordered an investigation of the activities. It found that a permit had not been issued for the construction of the lift and no concession had been granted for the use of state property. However,the chief architect of the local municipality had not taken these facts into consideration and had issued construction permits.

Currently, the Panichishte resort can accommodate about 2500 tourists, Dnevnik daily reported. Offshore company Rila Sport AD (RS) has planned a new resort, which would supposedly stretch over two-thirds of the National Park, including Panichishte, the Seven Rila Lakes and Kabul peak. The company planned to develop about 80km of ski runs and construct about 100 hotels, with a bed capacity of between 5000 and 15 000. However, RS had not yet received a construction permit from RIEW.

The first spontaneous civil protest against the plans to cover Rila with concrete occurred in Sofia on August 29. About 150 young environmentalists gathered at the crossing of Rakovski and Racho Dimchev streets, behind Sofia City Library. The people covered the zebra crossing with boxes and paper miniatures of hotels forming a wall, which presented the concrete construction planned for the parks and waited for the police to “demolish, for the first time, illegal constructions in Bulgaria”. The police however did not remove the miniature buildings and traffic on Rakovski Street was blocked for about an hour between 7.30 and 8.30pm. Stoyan Beshkov, from the Bulgarian Science Academy, was arrested during the protests and taken to the regional police office.

Traffic in Rakovski Street was allowed through after the environmentalists moved the miniature constructions themselves and took them to the MOEW building, at nearby 67 William Gladstone Street, blocking its entrance. Ognyan Kovachev, from the Bulgarian Green Party, told The Sofia Echo the protesters stayed there for about 15 minutes once the police arrived. “Everyone left at 9.30pm but the buildings stayed,” Kovachev said.

The second of the series actions, which had been promised by environmentalists in protest against the destruction of Bulgarian nature, took place on September 4 at Vassil Levski monument roundabout in Sofia. About 200 people gathered and slowly crossed the road, causing traffic jams that lasted about an hour. They carried posters that read “For clean and holy Bulgarian nature”, “Save Shabla” and “Bulgaria is not for single use”. The people who were protesting also gave flowers and sweets to the drivers waiting in their cars. However, two of the environmentalists were arrested because they did not follow police orders and, as the one of them – Tsveta Hristova – claimed, the other one was later beaten up in the police station.

After the two environmentalists were arrested, some of the protesters moved to in front of the fifth police office in Sofia, where they had been taken, Focus news agency reported. The two activists were released around noon.

At the September 4 protest, the environmentalists issued further demands, this time connected to the Iralki region, which is where the Stara Planina (Old Mountain) meets the Black Sea coast. The protesters wanted a stop on all construction along the Black sea coast, and especially at Iralki, until a complete environmental impact assessment had been prepared for the whole Black sea coastline – mostly about the protected areas and Natura 2000 zones. They also insisted on stricter control by MOEW on the environmental assessment issue, as well as on a transparent and public procedure for all investment proposals and initiatives. The people also demanded obligatory reporting of the cumulative effect, of all projects in an area, in the environmental assessment report.