Bulgaria: Injuries, arrests as pro-Kremlin party supporters clash with police at EU building
Ten police were injured and six people arrested on February 22 as supporters of pro-Kremlin minority party Vuzrazhdane vandalised and attempted to storm the building of the European Commission and European Parliament in Bulgaria’s capital city Sofia.
The protesters poured red paint on the facade of the building and attempted to set fire to the door, public broadcaster Bulgarian National Radio said.
The clash was a sequel to a protest “in defence of the lev” that started earlier in the day outside the building of central Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) in Sofia.
Vuzrazhdane, which has 35 seats in Bulgaria’s 240-seat Parliament and which opposes Bulgaria adopting the euro, repeatedly has targeted BNB and the National Statistical Institute with false allegations in connection with the country’s path to the European common currency.
The deputy head of the Sofia regional directorate of the Interior Ministry, Stefan Ivanov, told a hastily-summoned news conference on the afternoon of February 22 that the clash at the EC and EP building had begun after someone shouted via a megaphone: “The war must begin”.
This was followed by the throwing of fireworks and eggs as well as balloons filled with red paint.
Ivanov said that while there had been permission for the protest outside BNB, the march to the EU buildings had not been sanctioned.
“We redirected forces, we had built cordons and had taken all measures to secure the building itself,” he said.
“On arrival at the scene, there was a provocation from the protest, the police officers did not shout anything and did not show that such a provocation on our part could happen.”
Ivanov said that those arrested were people who had violated the cordon.
BNR reported that Vuzrazhdane MP Tsoncho Ganev alleged that it was not the party’s supporters that caused the injuries, but the police themselves, who sprayed teargas and thus injured their colleagues.
Ganev alleged that an MP, Ivailo Chorbov, was among those arrested, and another, Nikola Dimitrov, had been taken to hospital.
On Facebook, Bulgaria’s government condemned the assault on the EC and EP building.
“Attacks against institutions, whether national or European, are unacceptable and contradict the principles of the rule of law. Especially by sympathizers of a party that has its representatives in the European Parliament,” the government said.
“The fact that earlier this week similar actions were also directed against the Bulgarian National Bank is worrying. The democratic right to protest does not include aggression, destruction of public property and attacks on police officers,” it said.
“The state will categorically not tolerate attempts at destabilization and will take all necessary measures to guarantee public order. We call for responsibility and compliance with the law. Political debate should be conducted with arguments, not with violence,” the government said.
In a message on X on February 22, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “Outrageous scenes in Sofia where our EU office has been vandalised. In Europe, we exercise the right to demonstrate in a peaceful way. Violence and vandalism are never the answer”.
Boiko Borissov’s centre-right GERB, the majority partner in the coalition government, firmly condemned the February 22 actions by Vuzrazhdane “and we consider the attack on the building and the burning of the door of the European Commission’s office in Sofia absolutely unacceptable”.
“We have witnessed a systematic abuse of official position by a group of MPs and their sympathizers against independent state and European institutions, which poses a serious threat to the stability and authority of the state,” GERB said on Facebook.
“At the same time, the constitutional right to express one’s will or opinion through protest is not a basis for abuse or infringement of other constitutionally established rights such as order and security, which affect a greater public interest. Citizens have the right to protest, but it must be peaceful, because otherwise it turns into vandalism and anarchy,” the party said.
Kiril Petkov, co-leader of the reformist We Continue the Change party, said on Facebook: “I strongly condemn the vandalism against the building of the European Commission in Sofia by Vazrazhdane and their supporters”. The assault also was condemned by WCC’s electoral coalition partner, Democratic Bulgaria.
The delegation of the Bulgarian Socialists in the European Parliament said in a February 22 statement that it categorically rejects the acts of vandalism and violence by representatives and supporters of the Vuzrazhdane party in front of the House of Europe in Sofia.
“We respect protest as a form of civic and political stance, but not when it purposefully escalates to extreme forms that endanger the lives and health of citizens and law enforcement officers,” the statement said.
“Democracy guarantees pluralism of opinions, and the place of the debate on the euro zone is first and foremost in the Bulgarian Parliament, which is called on to make the final decision on whether and when Bulgaria is ready to join. We insist that this debate be conducted with arguments and facts, not with paint and firebombs. We call for a broad, calm and well-intentioned conversation, in which we are ready to participate actively as representatives of the left in the European Parliament,” it said.
The assault on the House of Europe also was condemned in statements by both factions of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms.
This is not the first incident of vandalism of the EC and EP building in Sofia involving Vuzrazhdane.
As The Sofia Globe reported at the time, participants in a so-called “March for Peace” hurled red paint at the building in May 2023.
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