Protest in Sofia: demonstrators demand resignation of Iotova and Radev
Outside the government building, protesters accused the president and prime minister of responding too weakly to drone attacks on ships. The rally had not been registered.
Symbolic image · Photo: Radosław Botev / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 pl (cropped and resized)
Protesters in Sofia's so-called triangle of power demanded on Thursday evening the resignations of President Iliana Iotova and Prime Minister Rumen Radev. According to the BTA news agency, they gathered outside the Council of Ministers building and chanted "Resign", "Traitors" and "Prison". The trigger was the series of drone attacks on merchant ships in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea, in which vessels have also sunk.
According to BNT, the organisers accused the authorities of not responding firmly enough to the Russian threat off the Bulgarian coast and of failing to protect national security. The protesters said Russian forces were behind the attacks, that European countries knew this, and that the president and government refused to acknowledge it. Neither BTA nor BNT reported who had called the rally or how many people took part.
The police presence in the area was visibly increased. Sofia Municipality told BTA that the protest had not been officially registered. Earlier on Thursday, ahead of the EU summit in Brussels, Prime Minister Radev said Russia was the working hypothesis but that there was no evidence regarding the drones. He hopes the EU will adopt Bulgaria's proposed moratorium on military action against merchant ships.