Eleventh day of anti-government protests

On the 11th day of the protests on July 19, members if the public gathered in downtown Sofia near the fountain in front of the Presidency building at 19:00. Their demands were resignation of the government, Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev and early elections.

Today's three-hour protest passed without incident and without tension. A declaration was read from the rostrum of the demonstrators, condemning the demonstrations of authoritarianism, impunity and disregard for the law by the government. They also condemned acts of violence and assaults against civilians by law enforcement, referring to the case of students beaten by police a few days ago.

This evening, it was discussed how the new phase of the protests will proceed tomorrow, which will grow into civil disobedience, with blockade of the building of the National Assembly building 7:00 to 20:00 in the evening on Monday.

The protesters called on other people who could not come to Sofia to express their civil disobedience in fronts of the buildings of the courts of the cities in which they live.

"We must not stop, we must continue to fight, because these are the same people for 30 years and that must change. We are number one in the EU in terms of corruption and last in terms of freedom of speech," one of the protesters told BNT.

Yes, I certainly support the protests and I support the overthrow of the government, as it was written in many foreign media that Boyko Borissov had allowed corruption to happen in Bulgaria, in my opinion he did not allow it, he is leading it and he is leading the whole looting of the state, the other parties do the same ", is the opinion of a protester.

"They have to give way, there is no way, this is a protest of the people, the young people are here. I don’t know how long the government will survive this, but the dissatisfaction is big and is growing, in my opinon," another protester said.

"It is not very clear to me what the problem is to convene a Grand National Assembly, to amend the Constitution and to start fresh. I do not have 30 years to wait for a bright future. I want it now!"

At 20:00 the traffic on Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd. was blocked. The demonstrations were without tension and without incident.

The protest tonight lasted until 22:00, as previously announced.

Anti-government protests were held in other places in the country, including Varna, Plovdiv and Rousse.

Bulgarians abroad are also protesting. There were demonstrations in Brussels, Frankfurt, Munich and Nuremberg.

Bulgarians from various cities in Belgium protested this morning in Brussels next to the European Council building, where the summit of EU leaders is being held.

Bulgarians in the Belgian capital have voiced support for protests in their homeland and demanded the resignation of the government and the chief prosecutor.

Bulgarians in Vienna also staged a protest, demanding the resignation of the government in their homeland.

The procession with posters and chants passed through the streets in the central part of the Austrian capital. It was organized by the Initiative "Bulgarians in Austria for a Free Bulgaria".

In a letter to Austrian and European institutions, members of the initiative said they were protesting "against corruption, brazenness and the takeover of the state in the service of private interests."