Street protests

are abundant in these times of economic security. Bulgaria this week lines up a number of protests:

Students. The same week as Athens exploded due to the killing of a young boy, a stdent was killed also in Sofia. The perpertrators were aid to be mafiosi, who all too easily escape the police. Students protest against violence, a corrupted police corps and against the insecurity surrounding life in Studentski Grad, the hokme of Bulgarias most gifted students, chalga singers and mafia owned discoteques.

Ecologists and farmers. The Bulgarian countryside is rather brutally exploited for making tourist sites out of every corner with a sight. Hearsay claim that the mafia is involved also here... the ecologists and the farmers protest, and demand Bulgarias environmental laws to be enacted.

How will the police react to this? Bulgaria has no tradition of violent protests and "the black bloc" is avoiding trouble. But the ecological movements are the hotbed of dissidence since the socialist days.

The police might find themselves in an awkward situation, though, since they plan to take to the streets themselves in the weekend, claiming more respect, quantified in a 50 % pay rise. Will those of them who work dejour beat up the rest? It wouldn't surprise me...

The blue collar workers from the collapsed Kremokovitsi are also pissed off, but abstain from protest so to not politicise their own negotiations with the political power.

An intersting week in deed... at the moment it seems the gas that Russia has released won't make it here through Ukraine any way... there is always a reason to get out protesting.