On a day with particularly intense chlorine emissions from the factory, an open air celebration, for the admission of 10-year-old children into the pioneer organization, was held on the central square in Ruse. Immediately after the ceremony, the children removed their pioneer red ties and put them over their mouth and nose in a vain attempt to protect themselves from chlorine. The only measure taken by the authorities, was to prepare the ambulances waiting near the square. This resulted in the first street demonstration.

Gas masks were one of the direct instruments offered by the authorities for immediately remedying the air-pollution problem, until further steps were undertaken. Children in kindergartens underwent training for using gas masks if necessary, and they were delivered by the state to many public institutions.

The initial protests in 1987-1988 were organized by six women, involved directly in the construction and maintenance of the environmental protection system in Ruse: Tsonka Bukurova, Valya Georgieva, Dora Bobeva, Stefka Monova, Evgenia Zheleva, and Albena Velkova. In 1988, especially after the ban of the documentary “Breathe!”, protests expanded and a new organization committee was established: the “Public Committee for the Salvation of Ruse”, which included public figures from Sofia, headed by the famous writer or Georgi Mishev.  

As visual items, gas masks were used by artists in their protest against the pollution in Ruse. For this reason, gas masks are one of the symbols associated with the chlorine pollution disaster in Ruse.

The gas mask is a donation by Iskra Pencheva, a participant in the ecological protests, to the Rousse Regional Museum of History in 1991.