Bulgarians rallied on Sunday to demand two Soviet-era nuclear reactors be restarted in the face of global economic woes and cuts in gas supply from Russia.
About 2,500 protesters with placards reading "Speed up Bulgarian energy" and "Restart" marched through Sofia, capital of the poorest EU member, saying the two 440 MW units Bulgaria shut in 2006 to win EU entry were safe and must be used again.
Sofia, hard hit by the Moscow-Kiev gas row, has been without supplies since January 6 and has reduced sharply gas deliveries to consumers. It fears power shortages would come next if gas flows are not restored soon.
Ukraine and Russia said on Sunday they had reached an outlined deal to restore supplies to Europe, while the European Union warned there had been false hopes before and was waiting to see gas actually flowing.
"We are too poor to waste away the national wealth," said Zdravko Mladenov, 51, an energy worker and supporter of the opposition political group Napred (Forward), which called the demonstration.
The organisers handed a petition to the government pressing for urgent steps to diversify power supplies. Growing public anger against slow reforms and endemic graft sparked another street protest last week.
Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said the government would study all the arguments about possibly restarting the units after meeting the organisers.
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