At a rally held on 27 April in Blagoevgrad and attended by thousands of people, the local residents as well as visitors from all the Pirin Mountains area, condemned the venality of those in power, including the president, the prime minister, and the majority in parliament, reports the Duma daily. The rally was organized by an initiating committee formed by members of the intelligentsia, among whom professors at the St. Neophytus Rilski Southwestern University. Georgi Pirinski, and other Left Wing deputies, as well as MUD representative Brigo Asparoukhov, were among the speakers. They voiced their categorical disagreement with the inadequate moves made by the ruling majority politicians to promote Bulgaria's membership in NATO and to allow alliance aircraft to use the Bulgarian air space. Among the people gathered there one could hear "Macedonian and Greek speech, which made observers think that the planned national automobile marathon might cross the borders of this country", says Duma.