Thousands protest against Bulgarian govt, scuffle with police
A large number of Bulgarians rallied before the parliament in Sofia on Wednesday in one of the biggest protests so far in two months of demonstrations calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.
Scuffles broke out between protesters and police, who fired pepper spray and made several arrests. Protesters threw eggs, apples and garbage against the heavily guarded parliament. They also shook police vehicles, and about 20 officers were afflicted by an unknown substance targeted at them by protesters, Sofia Police Chief Georgi Hadzhiev said.
The rally occurred on the first sitting of parliament after summer recess. Protesters called it the "Grand National Uprising" in response the government's arrange for a new constitution.Protesters accuse three-times premier Borissov, 61, of failing to fight the corruption that erodes the rule of law and benefits powerful tycoons in the European Union's poorest country.
In parliament, President Rumen Radev called for the resignation of Borissov's center-right government and appealed to deputies to dismiss the plans for a new constitution. "It had been not having less new constitution that brought the persons on the streets, but the insufficient morality in the leadership, the erosion of statehood and the corruption," he said.
Borissov has pledged to resign if parliament approves his demand the election of a grand national assembly tasked with voting on a fresh constitution. However, he's not likely to get enough votes to push ahead with his plan.
Protesters, in addition to opposition parties, have dismissed the proposal as a ploy aimed at keeping Borissov in office longer.=Bulgaria, which joined the EU in 2007, ranks as its most corrupt member according to Transparency International, and is yet to jail a senior official on corruption charges.
