Sat, May 26 2012

Truck and taxi drivers on strike in Sofia

Wed, May 28 2008 22:00 CET

byElitsa Grancharova

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Truck and taxi drivers on strike in Sofia

On May 28, about 150 trucks took part in the rally against the high fuel excise duty in Sofia suburbs, while 15 cabs gathered to protest the same in Sofia's centre.

The truckers' protest was organised by the Confederation of the Automobile Transport Associations, Bulgarian-language daily Dnevnik reported. Their main demand is for the Government to urgently intervene on the fuel market and to take measures against the speculative prices of fuels. They also insisted on re-payment of the excise duty that the transport companies pay and measures against any cartels being formed by fuel retailers.

The truckers gathered at Kazichene near Sofia's ring road and later moved in the direction of Boyana district creating big traffic jams on the ring road. Police guarded the truck rally.

Only 15 taxi drivers gathered in front of Alexander Nevski Cathedral in Sofia's centre to raise their voices against the high fuel prices. The National Federation of the Taxi Drivers in Bulgaria organised the rally and later said that they are protesting against the "fake cabs". Labour union chairperson Yane Yanev also used the opportunity to accuse two of the biggest cab companies of working for the grey economy. According to him, this was the reason so few cars to attend the protest.

Sofia municipality closed the streets around Alexander Nevski Cathedrall for four hours during the taxis' protests between 10.30am and 1pm on May 28.

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