Bulgaria announces security measures for presidential inauguration, including asking media not to use drones
Media covering the January 22 2017 inauguration of Roumen Radev as Bulgaria’s fifth president have been asked not to use drones, for the sake of public safety.
The Interior Ministry announced on January 20 arrangements for the public to watch the ceremony, advising of security measures for the event, which begins at 11am on St Alexander Nevsky Square.
Two places have been set aside for the public to watch the ceremony. One is on Oborishte Street opposite the Tsar Samuil statue and the other in front of the main entrance to Alexander Nevsky cathedral.
There will be two checkpoints for the public to enter, one in GS Rakovski Street near the Opulchenets monument and the other next to the southern entrance of Alexander Nevsky cathedral. No one will be admitted after 10.15am.
By Bulgarian law, those attending the event are banned from carrying firearms or any other dangerous items. No member of the public will be admitted if they are obviously under the influence of alcohol or otherwise in an inappropriate condition, while the use of “objects causing a loud noise” is also forbidden.
The National Protection Service will conduct checks to ensure no one enters with firearms, sharp-edged weapons or other sharp objects, explosives and flammable substances, fireworks or other pyrotechnics.
People with bulky baggage will not be admitted and there will be no place for the storage of baggage, the ministry said.
Public broadcaster Bulgarian National Television will have live coverage of the event from 9am to 12.45pm.
Those invited to the ceremony include Bulgaria’s former presidents, outgoing Prime Minister Boiko Borissov and all members of his Cabinet, the Speaker of the National Assembly Tsetska Tsacheva, the head and all members of the Constitutional Court as well as the heads of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Supreme Administrative Court, the Prosecutor-General, Chief of Defence and representatives of the Defence Ministry, Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandukova, foreign diplomats and other state and government officials.
Outgoing President Rossen Plevneliev is scheduled to speak at 11.05am, followed by an address by Radev.
Plevneliev and Radev will lay a wreath at the Monument to the Unknown Soldier. Shortly after noon, the two will hold talks at the Presidency, after which Radev will bid a formal farewell to Plevneliev at the front entrance to the Presidency building.
The weather forecast for Sofia for January 22 is for sunny weather, with a minimum temperature of minus nine degrees Celsius, rising to a high of minus two degrees.
/Politics
