DPS: "Bulgaria is not a barracks" – sharp attack on PM Radev
Delyan Peevski's party accuses the government of staged police operations against opposition mayors and demands information on the cost of state protection.
Archive image · Photo: VBorishev / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
The opposition DPS has levelled sharp accusations at Prime Minister Rumen Radev after police operations against opposition mayors. "Bulgaria is not a barracks, and Radev will not trample us with a dictator's boot!" the party declared after a meeting of its MPs, local politicians and structures with the Central Operational Bureau and party leader Delyan Peevski, BNT reported. It would not submit to an "anti-democratic, incompetent, power-hungry political upstart", the statement went on.
The DPS speaks of staged police operations against opposition mayors and activists and accuses what it calls the "Radev–Koprinkov model" of having taken control of the repressive apparatus, the Supreme Judicial Council and the prosecution service. The party also points to rising prices for food, fuel and services. It pledged to stand behind anyone it considers unjustly prosecuted or pressured. According to a BNT photo caption, Peevski asked the state protection service NSO to disclose the cost of protecting all protected persons since 2013. The meeting also covered the DPS position on the state budget.