Protests in Regional Centres Call for Government Resignation

Tatiana Marinova, BTA correspondent Andrey Kyuchukov

Protesters in Ruse, December 3, 2025 (BTA Photo/Andrey Kyuchukov)

Ruse, on the Danube,

03.12.2025 20:51

(BTA)

Citizens from regional centres, including Ruse, Veliko Tarnovo, Shumen, Montana, Yambol, Vidin, staged protests on Wednesday in front of regional and municipal administration buildings against local tax increases, the 2026 state budget bill and called for the government resignation. In Ruse, the protest was organized by Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria, while the residents of other regional centres organized themselves through social media.

Participants include representatives of local branches of MECH, Velichie, and citizens. Demonstrators were chanting slogans such as “Resign”, “Mafia”, “Out With the Mafia”, “Bulgarian Heroes”, waving national flags and holding banners reading “No to D”, “You Angered the Wrong Generation”, “We Want a Future in Bulgaria”, “The State Is Ours, Not Theirs”, “Resistance Against the Dictatorship”, “Out With Sarafov From Power”.

Ruse citizens were holding caricatures of Ruse Mayor Pencho Milkov, who Tuesday announced in a Facebook post that he is withdrawing the proposed increase in the property tax rate and the property component of the vehicle tax. “Regarding the municipal waste fee, the 2026 State Budget project included provisions to postpone the implementation of the polluter pays principle, but they are not in effect because the bill was withdrawn and not adopted. Therefore, the Municipality of Ruse is awaiting the final decision of the National Assembly,” Milkov wrote.

Earlier on Wednesday, the National Assembly unanimously approved the withdrawal of the state budget bill, and the bills of the National Health Insurance Fund, and the Public Social Insurance for 2026. The Council of Ministers requested that the National Assembly withdraw the three draft budgets on Tuesday, following a night of protests on Monday. Citizens protested against the 2026 draft budget in Sofia and in other cities across the country.

/VL/