Government likely to be unmoved by smoking ban protest in Sofia

About 2,500 people turned out yesterday to protest outside the parliament building in Sofia, Bulgaria, against the tobacco smoking ban that was imposed in enclosed public places in June, according to a Sofia Globe story.

The protest was organised by a hotel and restaurant association and on social networks. Organisers object to what they described as the huge financial losses suffered by the hospitality sector because of the stricter anti-smoking laws.

Before June, all establishments bigger than 70 square meters had to have separate smoking and non-smoking areas, while smaller establishments had the choice of being either fully-smoking or non-smoking. Since then the ban has been total.

It seems unlikely that the protest will change the government’s mind. Previous campaigns by restaurant and bar lobby groups and an attempt by a group of independent MPs to table legislation to revert to the previous law have met with a government response that there will no backtracking.