Tens of thousands of Bulgarians protested on Sunday against rising fuel costs that threaten to speed up inflation and hit incomes in the European Union's poorest member. Drivers flashed headlights and blew horns in car rallies in all major Bulgarian cities, demanding government measures to tame the spike of petrol costs, linked to a surge of global crude oil prices.
"Prices should be controlled, we can't stand it any more," said Maria Taseva, 33, in Sofia. "We will not stop until we see some action." In a separate protest against rising prices, some 1,500 people marched in an anti-government rally in the capital.
Bulgaria, hit by a prolonged recession, has frozen state salaries and pensions since last year to contain a rising fiscal deficit that may pose a risk to its currency peg to the euro.
The austerity cuts and the rise of food and fuel prices have put pressure on people in the Balkan country, where monthly salaries average 300 euros, the lowest in the EU.
Inflation, 4.5 percent in January, has hit the popularity of the centre-right government of Boiko Borisov. In Sofia, the Black Sea ports of Burgas and Varna, the Danube city of Rousse and the central town of Plovdiv, long queues of cars coiled in front of petrol stations of major fuel distributors.