People Fill Central Sofia during Protest against 2026 State Budget Bill

Momchil Rusev, Kaloyan Kirilov

Protest against the adoption of the 2026 State Budget Bill in Sofia, the square locked between the buildings of Parliament (centre), the President's Office (right) and the government (left) on November 26, 2025 (BTA Photo/Marin Kolev)

Sofia,

26.11.2025 17:40

(BTA)

People filled streets in central Sofia and a square known as the “Power Triangle”, where the new National Assembly building is flanked by the Presidency and the Council of Ministers on Wednesday evening, to protest the adoption of the 2026 budget bills. The rally was organized by the opposition Continue the Change.

The protest was scheduled for 6 p.m., but people began gathering in front of the National Assembly earlier in the day to watch a meeting of the parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee together.

There was an increased police presence in the area. Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) MP Ivaylo Mirchev said that all police leave in Sofia had been cancelled and that law enforcement officers had been called in front of Parliament at 4 p.m. The Interior Ministry denied that information.

Initially, the assembled citizens formed a human chain around the National Assembly building and booed MPs as they left. Later in the evening, the protest escalated as demonstrators attempted to overturn a police van but were repelled by the gendarmerie. The protesters then began throwing firecrackers and glass objects at the police. Sofia Directorate of the Interior said three police officers were injured.

The organizers said the clashes were started by provocateurs and urged the people to continue protesting peacefully and not give in to provocations. Among the speakers were ranking Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria representatives, including Continue the Change leader Assen Vassilev and Democratic Bulgaria's Ivaylo Mirchev, who, around 20pm called on the protestors to form a human chain and encircle the Parliament building where MPs of the government-backing majority were stuck.

Moral, Unity, Honour (MECh) leader Radostin Vassilev, attended the protest, and flags of Vazrazhdane were visible among the demonstrators.

On the agenda of Wednesday’s committee meeting was the second-reading vote on the draft budgets of the Public Social Insurance and the National Health Insurance Fund. The meeting began with tension between CC-DB MP Assen Vassilev and the committee chair, Delyan Dobrev (GERB-UDF). The dispute arose because the meeting started earlier than announced – at 12:15 p.m., although it had been scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Vassilev insisted that the meeting wait until the appointed time and blocked the committee’s work until then. Despite the dispute, the committee went on to adopt at second reading the draft budgets of Public Social Insurance and of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) for 2026. It also approved amendments earmarking central-budget transfers for hospital wages and setting minimum basic salaries for doctors, dentists, pharmacists and other medical staff.

/RY/