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Bulgaria's Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Tsvetlin Yovchev, photo by BGNES
All actions of Bulgarian antigovernment protesters on November 12, the day when the most violent clashes with police occurred in Sofia, were illegal.
The statement was made Wednesday by Interior Minister, Tsvetlin Yovchev, speaking before the Parliamentary Committee on Internal Security and Public Order.
Yovchev said the Sofia Directorate of the Interior Ministry has received information on November 11 that there was organization to blockade the Parliament and stir provocations. He explained that acting on this information, riot police prepared a plan to deal with the unrest.
The Minister reminded that at 8 pm on November 12, demonstrators pushed down the metal fences guarding the Parliament building and then attacked the police there with rocks, stones, and bottles.
"Police proceeded twice to push the protesters outside the square in front of the Parliament, and I must stress again that we are talking about illegal actions and events. Everything demonstrators did on that day was illegal, from beginning to end," said Yovchev.
He explained the protesters violated public order, damaged property, disobeyed and resisted police orders, and attacked police employees, which under the law was grounds for police to use force and batons.
The Minister praised the police, saying they actually refrained from using such force, unlike their colleagues across Europe during similar events.
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