Over 80 heavy-duty trucks were allowed across the border in both directions at the Koulata-Promachonas border crossing on Wednesday night, Todor Georgiev, Chief of Smolyan's Border Police Regional Directorate told BTA over the phone.

He said that a commitment was honored by Serres Prefect Stefanos Fotiadis, after his meeting on Tuesday with Blagoevgrad Regional Governor Vladimir Dimitrov where he promised to persuade Greek protesters to temporarily lift the blockade and let vehicles across.

Georgiev said that at about 9 am on Wednesday morning, there was a line of 205 heavy-duty trucks at Koulata, as many as on Tuesday.

At the Kapitan Petko Voivoda border crossing the situation was normal. Vehicles were allowed to cross the border from 11 pm on Tuesday to 7 am on Wednesday and there are no waiting vehicles.

At the Ilinden border crossing there was a line of about 50 vehicles. The blockade is expected to be lifted after 10 am on Wednesday to let vehicles cross into Greece.

Thanks to agreements reached between the Bulgarian Border Police and the Greek border authorities, all of the three border checkpoints were open to traffic for a couple of hours on Wednesday afternoon, the Border Police said.

A hundred vehicles from each of the two sides were allowed to pass at the Koulata crossing. The Kapitan Petko Voivoda crossing was opened from 2 pm to 3.30 pm. The Ilinden crossing was opened from 3 pm to 5 pm.

The Greek authorities are quoted as saying that the Kapitan Petko Voivoda and the Ilinden border checkpoints open every three hours for traffic. Only the Koulata-Promachonas facility opens once in the day.

The Greek police ensures control in the areas where there are blockades so as to prevent against incidents, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said.

Source: BTA