BULGARIAN POLICE, PROTESTERS CLASH NEAR PARLIAMENT

Read this article by Veselin Toshkov published in AP and describing the situation from today (12 November 2013). Hopefully this is the beginning of the end of this government.

Students clash with the riot police during a protest in front of Alexander Newsky cathedral, in Sofia, Bulgaria, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013. Bulgarian police clashed with protesting students who attempted to build a blockade around the parliament building seeking to oust the left-leaning government and early elections to be called. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian protesters tried to blockade the parliament on Tuesday, clashing with police as they demanded the country's left-leaning government resign and early elections be called.

Several hundred protesters, mostly students, tried to form a human chain around parliament in an attempt to trap lawmakers inside. Police used force to try to push them away and several people were injured.

The protest halted traffic in downtown Sofia, the capital. Organized by students who have been occupying Bulgarian universities for several weeks, the protest was part of a 5-month-old movement that accuses the Socialist-led government's leaders of having ties to shady businessmen.

Several people were arrested as protesters tried to stop police cars by lying on the ground. Later in the day, police in riot gear pushed away the protesters and formed a corridor to enable legislators to leave the parliament building.

Bulgaria's growing economic troubles and political gridlock have fueled tensions and hatred, dividing former friends, neighbors and even families. The country's society reminds many of the divisions between communists and democrats that paralyzed the country twenty years ago.

The governing coalition of the Socialists and an ethnic Turkish party commands only 120 seats in the 240-seat parliament and has to rely on the tacit support of a nationalist party.

It took office after an early election in May, following the resignation of the previous cabinet amid anti-austerity protests. But the June 14 appointment of controversial media mogul Delyan Peevski as head of Bulgaria's national security agency sparked public anger and sent people back into the streets.

His appointment was immediately revoked. Demonstrators, however, were already convinced that it was a clear sign of corruption and nepotism involving an influential group of businessmen and politicians who are believed to be in charge of Bulgaria's post-Communist transition.

Public opinion polls show the protesters are supported by about two-thirds of Bulgaria's 7.3 million people, who have the lowest incomes in the 28-nation European Union.

/AP/

14 Year Anniversary from the beginning of true reforms in Bulgaria

In January 1997 Bulgaria was at breaking point, facing an overall political and economic crisis. Tens of thousands of people were protesting daily against the former Communist government and calling for early elections.

Outside the party headquarters of Prime Minister Zhan Videnov's BSP protesters would shout "Mafia" and "Red rubbish", throw eggs, pieces of bread, sometimes stones at the building. Under Videnov the BSP government failed to implement economic reforms, the banking system was on the verge of collapse, inflation was at 300%, corruption rampant, and average wages at no more than US $30 a month. Leaders of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces made it clear that parliamentary means to resolve the present crisis have been virtually exhausted. On 10 January the protesters blocked the about 100 Socialist members of Parliament from leaving the building.
In the early evening protesters stormed the building, smashing windows and causing some damage to the interior. At dawn, the BSP members of parliament were led out by riot police through back doors and escorted on army buses, while the remaining protesters near the building were dispersed by police and beaten up, some of them badly. Over 200 demonstrators were sent to hospital for emergency treatment that night.

The response was: mass strikes, nightly marches and road blocks across the country. Bulgaria was for the first time in its recent history the focus of the world media. Reuters Sofia-correspondent at the time, Thalia Griffiths, explains this attention with the significance of the events:

"The uprising was much more dramatic than the Belgrade protests, taking place at the same time. Bulgaria is not a country where people throw stones at the Parliament every day. I think there was a tremendous sense of anger, a sense that something had to be done. It was a very dramatic event. What struck me most was the fact that really everybody was on the street. It was not just students or political activists. There were also senior citizens and parents with their teenage kids out demonstrating."
Eventually, on 4 February, the BSP agreed to hold early elections. A caretaker cabinet appointed by the new President Petar Stoyanov served till the elections in April 1997. The vote brought a landslide victory for the pro-reform forces of the United Democratic Forces coalition.

Few would disagree that the fall of Videnov's cabinet in 1997 saved Bulgaria from a deepening crisis. His party colleagues however to this day prefer to remember their effort to save the 'civil peace' in Bulgaria.

The response was: mass strikes, nightly marches and road blocks across the country. Bulgaria was for the first time in its recent history the focus of the world media. Reuters Sofia-correspondent at the time, Thalia Griffiths, explains this attention with the significance of the events:

"The uprising was much more dramatic than the Belgrade protests, taking place at the same time. Bulgaria is not a country where people throw stones at the Parliament every day. I think there was a tremendous sense of anger, a sense that something had to be done. It was a very dramatic event. What struck me most was the fact that really everybody was on the street. It was not just students or political activists. There were also senior citizens and parents with their teenage kids out demonstrating."

Eventually, on 4 February, the BSP agreed to hold early elections. A caretaker cabinet appointed by the new President Petar Stoyanov served till the elections in April 1997. The vote brought a landslide victory for the pro-reform forces of the United Democratic Forces coalition.

Few would disagree that the fall of Videnov's cabinet in 1997 saved Bulgaria from a deepening crisis. His party colleagues however to this day prefer to remember their effort to save the "civil peace" in Bulgaria.