In Bulgaria, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in anti-government protests against corruption.
Dec 2, 2025, 3:53 amDec 2, 2025, 3:53 am
According to the AFP news agency, the demonstration on Parliament Square in the capital Sofia on Monday was the largest rally in years. People called for a change of government with shouts of “mafia” and “resignation,” as the AFP observed.
There are violent protests against the conservative government in Bulgaria.Image: keystone
Since Wednesday, people in Sofia have been protesting against the draft budget for 2026, which they believe conceals the country’s rampant corruption. Bulgaria will join the eurozone on January 1, 2026. The new budget is therefore the first to be calculated in euros.
«We are here to demonstrate for our future. We want to be a European country and not a country ruled by corruption and the mafia,” said a 21-year-old protester. According to media reports, demonstrations also took place in other cities in the EU country on Monday.
Riots after rally
After the main demonstration ended, there were clashes with the police. Some demonstrators, covering their faces, attacked the headquarters of the government-supporting DPS party with stones and bottles. They also threw fireworks at the police. The officers used tear gas. AFP reporters observed several arrests. A nearby office of the ruling conservative Gerb party was also vandalized.
President Rumen Radev called for an end to the violence, which he described as a “provocation of the mafia,” and for the government to resign. “There is only one way out: resignation and early elections,” he explained on the online service Facebook.
Several new elections
After massive anti-corruption protests in 2020 against the then government under Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, the southeastern European country has already seen seven early elections. Borisov’s Gerb Party won the last elections last year and leads the current coalition government.
In Transparency International’s corruption perception index, Bulgaria came last among EU member states alongside Hungary and Romania. (sda/afp)