site.btaMayor Terziev: Peaceful Protest Marred by Hooded Hooligans

The largest peaceful protest in many years was marred by a group of hooded hooligans, said Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev here Monday. He made a comment on Bulgarian National Television after a large peaceful protest against the government's budget plans took a turn to ugly scenes with hooded and masked people vandalizing streets in central Sofia.

The protest organizers said those were provocateurs who had nothing to do with the protest and were there with a mission.

MRF - New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski blamed the clashes on President Rumen Radev.

The Mayor said it is "extremely painful to watch the city being destroyed".

He said that damage has been caused to an office of the ruling GERB party, to police cars and vans, and trash bins were set on fire.

Asked about a power outage in parts of central Sofia at the time of the protest, he said a fire in a substation that caused it, may have been deliberate.

Asked to comment if the police were well prepared for this protest, the Mayor said the question should be addressed to the Minister of Interior, Daniel Mitov.

The protest organizers called for Mitov's resignation for the police' failure to subdue the provocateurs.

"The end result is that from an extremely peaceful protest, it escalated to vandalizing the city," Mayor Terziev said.

He said that he has always urged people to protect the city. "But those who are causing the disorder right now - whatever I tell them, I don’t think it would stop them. We all know why they are there," said he.

Asked whether he has information about who the provocateurs are, the Mayor said he could not know who they are, but they were clearly visible, and they did not belong there among young people and mothers with children. "There were very clearly visible small groups of hooded people dressed entirely in black, with wrenches sticking out of their pockets," said the Mayor.

He said that as soon as the unrest ends, cleaning and garbage collection will begin, and public transport will be restored Tuesday.