Several Bulgarian cities join Four Paws’ call for New Year’s Eve fireworks ban
Sofia, Plovdiv and a number of other municipalities in Bulgaria have responded to the call by the Four Paws animal protection NGO to cancel fireworks displays on New Year’s Eve.
Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandukova said that the decision to not to have an official fireworks display took into account anti-epidemic measures, the Four Paws campaign, the negative effects that fireworks displays have on babies, children with disabilities and animals, and the effect that fireworks have on air pollution.
“Along with our initiative, we are calling on the public not to use, or at least limit the use of, fireworks during these holidays. We know that the problem is not only at midnight on December 31, but also in the days before and after New Year’s Eve,” she said.
Plovdiv mayor Zdravko Dimitrov issued an order cancelling fireworks planned for New Year’s Eve, and issued a similar appeal not to use, or to limit the use of, fireworks.
Stara Zagora deputy mayor Milen Zheleva said that it would, instead of holding a fireworks display, donate the budgeted amount to charity.
Other municipalities that have announced that they would not hold fireworks displays include Veliko Turnovo, which will hold a light show and concert in front of the municipal building, Kyustendil, which will hold a brass band concert in a square in the town, Simitli and Chirpan.
A statement on December 30 on the website of Kurdzhali municipality said that mayor Hassan Azis had joined the Four Paws Foundation’s call to cancel the New Year’s fireworks show.
The 5000 leva funds that had been set aside for fireworks would be used to support the family of Yusuf Myumyun from the village of Rani List, whose house was damaged by fire on December 15. The family’s home is uninhabitable and the family of four is temporarily housed in a student dormitory building, the statement said.
In Blagoevgrad, there is a petition to cancel the fireworks display and instead donate the money to relatives of those who died in a recent fire in a block of flats in the city. Blagoevgrad mayor Ilko Stoyanov, however, has said that the fireworks display will go ahead.
(Photo: Darren Danks/freeimages.com)
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