site.bta Vazrazhdane Issues Declaration on Increased Police Presence around Parliament Building

The Vazrazhdane party issued a declaration from the parliamentary rostrum in connection with the increased police presence around the National Assembly building.

MPs from Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) used their cars earlier in the morning on Thursday to block the entrances to the Parliament's parking lot to prevent the vehicles driving GERB leader Boyko Borissov and MRF - New Beginning Floor Leader Delyan Peevski from entering. The move is in support of Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev, who was detained on July 8 on charges of bribery, and Sofia Deputy Mayor Nikola Barbutov, who was charged with bribery in late June. Subsequently the police presence around the National Assembly building was increased.

The Interior Ministry is visible on Bulgaria’s streets only in two situations – when it is hiding in the bushes to fine drivers and revoke their licences, because the depleted state budget cannot be replenished otherwise, or when there are protests, party leader Kostadin Kostadinov commented.

“At the moment, we can see that Parliament is entirely blocked from the outside by the mafia repressive regime in power,” he said. “I witnessed it myself – I deliberately came on foot, not that there is any other way to get here now, since all entrances to Parliament are blocked,” he noted. Kostadinov added that police officers stop every single person passing by the legislature. “Because they are afraid. Because the thugs of GERB and the MRF are literally trembling with fear,” he commented.

The Vazrazhdane leader pointed out that although a protest is scheduled for 2:00 PM, the police had sealed off access to Parliament as early as 06:30 in the morning. Responding to remarks from GERB-UDF, he asked: “If you are not afraid, why have you summoned the cops outside?”

“When a regime turns against its own people, as we are witnessing right now, it is the duty of the people to bring it down,” Kostadinov said. According to him, when those in power deploy the police onto the streets only to crush, repress and trample the Bulgarian people, then resistance is mandatory.