About 150 people gathered at the self-proclaimed “Early Risers” students protest in front of the Bulgarian Parliament Thursday.

They took a stand against the latest Interior Ministry bill, claiming that it foresees fundamental human rights restrictions such as the right to protest.

Shortly after 11:00 a.m. Thursday, the students came out to voice their dissatisfaction with the left-wing government of MP Plamen Oresharski, as well as with the new Interior Ministry law.

Some of the protesters began kicking the metal fences surrounding the Parliament. They insisted that their perimeter is too large and demanded that the fences were removed.

There were no reports of clashes.

The protesters threw tomatoes, vegetables and eggs at the building of the Parliament.

The students insisted that the public voice must be heard and that the Interior Ministry law amendments must not be approved, because they would interfere in people's personal lives and would tolerate police outrage.

According to the Early Risers, Bulgaria ranks 8th worldwide in terms of police officers per capita. The protesters pointed it out as another fault of Oresharski's administration, claiming that the government has completely lost all public trust and demanded its designation.

The Early risers' Facebook page states that the new draft envisages the authority over-concentration of the Interior Minister, thus leaving no differentiation between political and professional leadership.

According to the students, the appointment of the Interior Ministry Chief Secretary by the Council of Ministers rather than by the President, is a violation of the balancing function of the head of state.

Protesters against the Oresharski cabinet first walked out on June 14, after the appointment of controversial media mogul Delyan Peevski for head of Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security (DANS).
Peevski's reinstatement as MP after his resignation from the Security Agency provoked a student occupation at Sofia University in October by the so-called Early Risers.

Protesters have claimed that the Oresharski cabinet, backed by the Bulgarian Socialist Party and the liberal Movement for Rights and Freedoms exemplifies in an acute form the deep influence of the so-called Bulgarian oligarchy on politics.

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