14th day of anti-government protests, key crossroads in Sofia blocked to traffic

Protesters gathered in the area of the “Triangle of Power” in Sofia on July 22.

There was a protest outside the Court Palace. People were throwing caps and demanding the resignation of the chief prosecutor. A former minister of justice and current leader of “Yes Bulgaria” party, Hristo Ivanov, explained why: "From outright violations of the Penal Code, such as the use of materials obtained by special surveillance devices for purposes other than criminal proceedings and their publication for propaganda and political purposes, rude political statements that are prohibited to magistrates," he said.

As part of the tradition, the protest started at 17:00 when the first protesters gathered outside the building of the Presidency. Their demands remained unchanged: resignation of Boyko Borissov’s government, resignation of the chief prosecutor, early elections and machine voting.

Shorty before 19:00, traffic on Tsar Osvoboditel boulevard was blocked, in the section from “Independence” square to the Military Club.

People were chanting “resignation” and “good-bye”.

Today’s protest was under the slogan “Let’s block Sofia first and then the state”.

At 19:30, protesters moved under the windows of the Council of Ministers, throwing toilet paper rolls towards the building. Protesters said it was a symbol of lack of trust and respect for those in power.

"The symbol is just to get everything brown out of here, all the power, everything in power right now to get out of here," they said.

"We must show that we disagree with this great nonsense called the Council of Ministers, GERB, Bulgarian Socialist Party, Movement for Rights and Freedoms and all the other rubbish who are in Parliament."

"It is not enough to get rid of these and the next to come. It doesn't stop people from being unhappy with the current situation. They say to themselves ‘ we don't want what we have now."

There was also a protest in front of the building of the Bulgarian National Television. According to those gathered, BNT is not fulfilling its function of public service broadcaster. They say that since Emil Koshlukov became Director General of BNT, trust in the public media has dropped.

About 21:00, the protest turned into a procession. Protesters blocked the traffic at 7 key crossroads: at Eagles Bridge; the Indoors Market (Halite); Vitoshka street, Patriarch Evtimii boulevard; Vassil Levski monument; Macedonia square; Alexander Dondukov boulevard and Rakovski street. The protesters’ call was: “Let’s block the city and then the state”.

As at 23:30, two crossroads are blocked to traffic: Eagles’ Bridge and Vitosha and the crossroad at Vitosha and Patriarch Evtimii boulevards.

photos by BGNES