Sofia Opera complains about rowdy neighbours Ataka
Sofia Opera, which shares a building with the headquarters of ultra-nationalist party Ataka, has complained in an open letter to the media that Ataka supporters were disrupting rehearsals.
After clashes between anti-government protesters and Ataka supporters on June 17, which left several people with minor injuries, the daily marches have avoided passing by Ataka’s headquarters, following calls in social media (many of them using the #ignorevolen hashtag on Twitter and Facebook).
However, Ataka supporters have continued to gather in front of party headquarters, ostensibly to defend it against future attacks.
“Every day, Ataka’s political supporters siege the building, urinate in front of it, are extremely noisy and interfere with singers’ rehearsals,” the Opera’s statement said. “Our artists cannot reach their workplace and cannot make their way home afterward. The Opera is under siege and it is difficult for a regular person to enter.”
The recent turmoil risked to undermine the Sofia Opera’s plans to stage Richard Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung cycle, scheduled for June 22-29, which, the Opera said, is the first full performance of the cycle in the Balkans.
(Photo: Apostoloff/wikimedia.org)
