site.btaThree Police Officers Injured During Protest at National Assembly

Three police officers were injured while carrying out their duties during a protest outside the National Assembly, the Sofia Directorate of Interior said on Wednesday evening.

Part of the participants in a protest, which had been registered as peaceful, tried to break through the police cordon and threw bottles and firecrackers at officers in front of the National Assembly building. Two officers were transported to hospital for medical examinations, the Sofia Directorate of Interior said.

Sofia Directorate of Interior Director Lyubomir Nikolov sent a letter to Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev with a request for an order to terminate the event. Georgiev said at a briefing to the media during the protest that he does not know whether the mayor’s order arrived, but since the situation calmed down it might not have been issued.

He added that protesters who carried out anti-social acts were identified and would be detained. One of them climbed onto a police car and damaged a camera from the video surveillance system monitoring police actions. To remove protesters after the end of the protest, there had to be an order from the mayor to terminate the event. After that, it would be discussed with the leadership of the Sofia Directorate of Interior and, on their instructions, the relevant measures would be taken, Georgiev said.

He explained that the protest was authorized to run from 18:00 to 22:00. The event took place in the manner agreed, at Independence Square and the adjacent areas of Dondukov and Tsar Osvoboditel boulevards, outside the security zones of the institutions.

The Sofia Directorate of Interior called on protesters to express their civil position peacefully and to avoid provocations and breaches of the law.