site.bta35 Years since Human Chain around Parliament

Thirty-five years ago, more than 20,000 people, mostly students, formed a "human chain" around the National Assembly, angered by the news of the postponement of the abolition of Article 1 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, which formulated the leading role of the Communist Party.

The vote on it was postponed until January 1990 because of the constitutional requirement that a one-month period had to elapse since the proposal was submitted. President Petar Mladenov tried to calm the protesters, but they booed him. At that moment, Mladenov uttered the phrase "The tanks better come!" On December 15, 1989, at the ongoing session of the National Assembly, some articles of the Penal Code used for repression against political opponents were repealed and those convicted under these articles were granted amnesty. Art. 1(2), (3) of the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bulgaria were repealed by the National Assembly on January 15, 1990.

The session of the National Assembly began with chants around the building of the National Assembly for democracy and resignation. Several thousand students from independent student societies held a rally beforehand in front of the National Theatre, where the text of their petition to the National Assembly for the abolition not only of Article 1 of the Constitution, which guarantees the leading role of the Communist Party, but also of other articles, which, for example, stipulate that parents must educate their children in the spirit of communism and that education in the People's Republic of Bulgaria is based on Marxism-Leninism. Students also demanded autonomy for universities, BTA’s archives show.