More than 50 landowners in the area of the Natura 2000 area of Irakli-Emine along Bulgaria's Black Sea coast protested on August 5 in front of the Regional inspectorate for environment and water in Bourgas, threatening to set their own lands on fire.

The landowners are angry over the July 27 decision by Environment and Water Affairs Minister Djevdet Charukov to extend the ban on construction in the area with one year. The ban affects about 3800 hectares.

Protesting landowners demanded the resignation of Simeon Simeonov, head of the environmental inspectorate which reported to the Ministry of Environment and Water Affairs (MOEW) the presence of protected animals in the area, Bulgarian-language daily Dnevnik said.

"The inspectorate can not just send a report like that. If we, the landowners, say that such animals are not present, that means they are no there," Donka Kitanova, chairperson of the Association of landowners in the Irakli-Emona area, said.

Simeonov said he was ready to resign if the landowner's claims were true.

Landowners announced that later this week they would block the road between Varna and Bourgas, along which their property is located, after which they would set their lands on fire.