site.btaVazrazhdane, The Left Stage Anti-Government Protest in Central Sofia
Supporters of the parliamentary Vazrazhdane Party and the extra-parliamentary The Left Coalition staged a protest in central Sofia on Saturday to press demands for the resignation of the just elected regular cabinet headed by Nikolay Denkov and new early elections.
Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov told journalists that the Denkov Cabinet is linked to foreign embassies and, apart from Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria and GERB-UDF, also involves the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. Asked how far Vazrazhdane will take its protest actions, Kostadinov said "as far as it takes".
The protesters initially gathered in front of the Parliament building and blocked car traffic there. Signatures were collected on petitions for a referendum on a ban of "gender education" and for a referendum "for peace and sovereignty".
Addressing the demonstrators, Hristo Kolev of the ABV Party (part of The Left) said that "the war coalition is now a fact and Bulgaria will be drawn into a war thanks to the criminal and xenomanic anti-Bulgarian policy pursued by Defence Minister Tagarev". To prevent this "fatal historic error", The Left feel duty bound to demand the immediate resignation of the Denkov Cabinet.
The protesters asked why the Bulgarian Socialist Party now supports "the hireling anti-Bulgarian criminal government".
Later on, The Left issued a press release saying that the protest targeted "the unprecedented political cynicism". "The Left consistently insists on the restoration of statehood and the liquidation of the criminal elements in Bulgaria's governance," the press release reads.
The protesters initially gathered in front of the Parliament building and blocked car traffic there. Signatures were collected on petitions for a referendum on a ban of "gender education" and for a referendum "for peace and sovereignty".
Then around 2 p.m. the demonstrators started a procession, marching past the Council of Ministers and the Palace of Justice and finally blocking a key urban traffic junction at Eagles Bridge.
The area was reopened to traffic around 4 p.m. as the anti-government protest ended.
/LG/
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