After the main demonstration in the Bulgarian capital Sofia ended, there were clashes with the police.
Keystone
In Bulgaria, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in anti-government protests against corruption. According to the AFP news agency, the demonstration on Parliament Square in the capital Sofia on Monday was the largest rally in years.
People shouted “mafia” and “resign” and demanded a change of government, AFP reported.
Since Wednesday, people in Sofia have been protesting against the draft budget for 2026, which they believe conceals the rampant corruption in the country. Bulgaria will join the eurozone on January 1, 2026. The new budget is therefore the first to be calculated in euros.
“We are here to demonstrate for our future. We want to be a European country and not a country ruled by corruption and the mafia,” said a 21-year-old demonstrator. According to media reports, demonstrations also took place in other cities in the EU country on Monday.
Riots after the rally
After the main demonstration ended, there were clashes with the police. Some demonstrators, who covered their faces, attacked the headquarters of the DPS party, which supports the government, with stones and bottles. They also threw fireworks at the police. The officers used tear gas. AFP reporters observed several arrests. A nearby office of the ruling conservative Gerb party was also vandalized.
President Rumen Radev called for an end to the violence, which he described as a “provocation by the mafia”, and for the government to resign. “There is only one way out: resignation and early elections,” he declared on Facebook.
Several new elections
Following massive anti-corruption protests in 2020 against the then government under Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, the south-eastern European country has already seen seven early elections. Borissov’s Gerb party won the last elections last year and leads the current coalition government.
In the Corruption Perceptions Index published by the organization Transparency International, Bulgaria was ranked last among the EU member states alongside Hungary and Romania.