Owners and staff of the closed restaurants prepare a national protest in front of the Council of Ministers building at 12:00 today, their demand is to start working from February 1. The action is under the motto "March to Freedom" and is organized by the two associations of restaurants in Bulgaria.  Days ago, the restaurateurs also requested the resignation of Health Minister Kostadin Angelov.

The organizers of the protest believe that the pandemic is mismanaged and this deprives them of their right to work. And without satisfactory decisions on compensations at that.

The industry is discriminated against and therefore mounts a protest, announced the Chairman of the Association of Restaurants Emil Kolarov:

"The only thing we want is to work. We don‘t understand why we remain closed, as it is clear, after all the restaurants in hotels have been working for a month now, there is no increase in morbidity."

Both organizations demand the resignation of Health Minister Kostadin Angelov, who, in their words, is waging a personal war with the restaurants and categorically state that political figures have no place in the protest."

Owners of restaurants in Stara Zagora and Burgas also are ready to participate in today's protest in Sofia.

More than 80 representatives of the Association of Hoteliers and Restaurateurs from Velingrad will participate in the protest, but with other demands, said the Deputy Chairman of the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association Zlatko Zlatanov:

 "The protest is against the Minister of Health, and we are absolutely against it. Ministry of Labor and Social Policy – they must take their blame for the disastrous situation in our industry. There's no way we can ask when to open or when to close. We can't do that! We want the compensations not to be below BGN 24, but to be up to a European standard. We do not insist on opening today."