At noon sharp today, air raid sirens will sound throughout the country for 2 minutes in tribute to the memory of revolutionary poet Hristo Botev and all people who have laid down their lives for the freedom of Bulgaria, the Interior Ministry says. By a tradition, when they hear the siren, all pedestrians and vehicles in populated areas stop in their tracks.

Earlier, in front of the monument to Vasil Levski in Sofia, pupils will take part in the ritual reading of “In the pantheon of freedom”, and a ceremony will take place in front of the bust to Hristo Botev in Borisov Garden in the capital city, say the organizers from the Regional Department of Education – Sofia-city and Sofia municipality.