Bulgarian police did not allow Macedonian activists from OMO Ilinden – Pirin and other organizations to wave Macedonian flags through the city of Blagoevgrad on Goce Delcev’s birthday.

In previous years this practice was allowed, but this year, with tensions between the two nations running high, the plainclothes police told them that “we don’t want to have problems, and neither do you”. The activists were able to lay flowers on Delcev’s monument and gathered in the newly opened Macedonian cultural center in Blagoevgrad, the capital of the region of Pirin Macedonia, which was one the focal points of the activities of VMRO and Delcev during the national liberation struggle.