Non-governmental organisations are planning a joint protest to meet Russian president's Vladimir Putin's escort at Sofia's Orlov most (Eagle's Bridge) on January 17, organisers of the rally told Dnevnik daily.
It was not known whether the vehicles of the official Russian delegation will go past the protesters since the programme of Putin's visit to Bulgaria was not yet announced.
On January 18 the protests would be moved in front of the National Palace of Culture (NDK), from where a march towards the square of the Sveta Nedelya church would start. Organisers said they would inform Sofia Municipality 24 hours before the start of the event, Dnevnik daily said.
On January 17 there would be two protests at Orlov most, on the side of the old tram line, Petar Penchev of the Association for Freedom of Speech “Anna Politkovskaya” said. The first protest will take place from noon to 3pm. Sofia Municipality had been informed of the protest and answered it had no objections. Penchev said that because of the cold weather this rally would probably last no more than an hour and a half.
The second rally would be held at the same place from 5.30pm to 7.30pm. Representatives of all civil organisations that have declared their readiness to protest against Putin's visit were expected to show up. Only the Bourgas ecologists who would protests against the construction of the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline would miss this second rally since they would arrive in Sofia on January 18.
The protest actions would continue from 10am to 11am on January 18 in front of the Sveta Sofia church where a memorial service would be held in the memory of murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. At 12.30pm the protest was planned to move to the front of the NDK, where the Bourgas ecologists' rally would take place at that time. According to a preliminary programme, the protest would grow into a march to the Sofia monument in front of the Sveta Nedelya church, Dnevnik daily said.
A number of other organisations have declared they would participate in the protest actions.
On January 16 a joint news conference would be held to announce the final programme of the protests, Dnevnik daily said.
