site.btaDemocracy in Bulgaria Under Attack, Say CC-DB in Declaration on Arrests of Politicians, CITUB Vice President

Democracy in Bulgaria is under attack, Nikolay Denkov, Co-Chair of the Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) parliamentary group, said from the rostrum during a sitting of the National Assembly on Wednesday.

He described the past month as a period marked by public political arrests on questionable grounds. Denkov called the display of brutal force part of a wider attack against political opponents and free citizens in Bulgaria.

Following the arrests of politicians in Sofia and Varna, Denkov said the country witnessed a "brutal arrest of a trade union leader" during an organized protest. Eight police officers handcuffed and dragged Todor Kapitanov, Vice President of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB). According to Denkov, this rise in demonstrative repression aims to intimidate people.

The CC-DB declaration added that history teaches how failure to respond early to repression leads to dictatorship. Denkov made a clear statement of defiance - they are not afraid and will take to the streets in Sofia, Varna, Ruse, Brussels, London, Berlin, and Munich.