Tents and belongings of visitors to Irakli, a site on the Black Sea coast that has been postponed from inclusion in the Natura 2000 European ecological network, were set on fire on April 28, allegedly by people presenting themselves as members of the Irakli owners association.

Those assaulted included four people, including amateur ornithologists and photographers and an elderly couple who have been regular visitors to the beach area for many years.

Allegedly, the assailants said that the area was “not Bulgarian nature, this is private property”. An act recently approved by Parliament says that beach areas are public property and may not be in private ownership. Moreover, the beach is cleaned and taken care of by visitors and not the concessionaires.

The area where the arson took place was in a forested area that separates the beach from farmland which is also state property.

Trees were also cut and burned, as well as land-art installations, which have been on the beach for many years, a WWF media statement said on May 8.

The coalition of 17 non-governmental ecological organisations “To Sustain Nature in Bulgaria” said that it was found at the beginning of April that signs designating the borders of the area and regulations governing the existing protected zone Irakli had been damaged.

Yanko Yankov, one of those assaulted, sent a letter to the media, in which he described the incident. He said that the value of the property that had been damaged or destroyed had been about 1000 leva, including tents, sleeping bags and clothes. He said that remains of these items could not be found in the area that had been burnt, and the group believed that they had been stolen.

He said the police officer they contacted on the next day in the neighbouring town of Obzor told the claimants they had nothing to do with the beach. He said that the police had not included in the report the alleged arson.

Approached for comment by The Sofia Echo, lawyer Vesselin Paskalev said that arson was punishable by jail of one to eight years, according to article 330 of the Penal Code.

Coincidentally or not, the weekly demonstration by Natura 2000 supporters in front of the Cabinet office on May 10 was entitled “Fire in the Hearts”. Each week, the activists have themed their demonstration according to one of the traditional elements. This week’s protest depicted the theme of fire with a show representing a three-headed fire-breathing dragon and burning figures.

“Man has reached such levels of technological development that he could easily lose his way in thinking that he rules the nature and its forces,” the pro-Natura 2000 activists said. “But such a self-reliant position can lead all of us to self-destruction, if we do not accept the signs of nature and restore the balance, which we dramatically keep on disrupting,” those present said. They said that Natura 2000 was a tool for biodiversity and nature conservation and an important part of finding a solution to the problem of this disrupted balance.

The environmentalists also reminded that on May 16, the two-month term expires for the Government’s response to their demand for a meeting for an explanation of the motives for postponement of the Natura 2000 zones.