Bulgarian nationalists, who gathered in Blagoevgrad today to protest the opening of a Macedonian cultural center, were not able to prevent Macedonians from honoring Goce Delcev at his monument in the center of the city.

Bulgarian police was out in force and prevented any larger incident between the two groups – other than the few Bulgarians who shouted “traitor” at VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski as he spoke with the press. The Bulgarian nationalist VMRO-BND party which organized the protest had its supporters gather near the Delcev monument. This meant that the Macedonians from Blagoevgrad and visitors from Macedonia initially could not walk over to the monument.

But after the tensions calmed down, the Macedonian procession was able to walk over to the monument.