Bulgarian nationalists were gathered in downtown Sofia late last week to protest the decision of the Bulgarian BNT television not to air a film during the visit of Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski and much of his Government.

The television planned to air a movie depicts the Communist persecution of Macedonian patriots in the chaotic post-liberation days of 1945 as massacre of Bulgarian activists. According to the Bulgarian version of these events, thousands of Bulgarians were killed or persecuted by the Yugoslav Communist authorities during the “bloody Christmas”. On the Macedonian side, the number of victims and especially their designation as Bulgarians, are disputed.

The scheduled airing of the movie was pulled not to provoke an incident during Kovacevski’s visit. But this did not sit well with local nationalist groups, who gathered in front of the BNT building, chanting “Before and now, Macedonia is Bulgarian”

The protest yielded results, and the film was aired on BNT yesterday, in a late evening slot.