Participants in last weekend’s “March for Peace and Neutrality” in the Bulgarian capital city of Sofia vandalized a building where representatives of the European Commission and European Parliament are based, hurling eggs and blood-red paint at the EU building to express their contempt for the institution, which they see as responsible for Bulgaria’s involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian War.
The demonstration, which took place on Sunday, May 21st, was the latest in a succession of anti-war, anti-EU, and anti-NATO rallies that have taken place over the past several weeks, and reportedly saw some 1,000 people gather, a few carrying Russian flags, in Sofia’s city center to protest, among other things, what they view as Brussels’ interference in Bulgaria’s national politics, the U.S. state-funded Svobodna Evropa reports.
The demonstration was organized by political parties across the spectrum, including the extraparliamentary MIR party, the right-wing Vazrazhdane (Revival), and the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the latter two of which occupy 25% of seats in Bulgaria’s 240-seat parliament. Protesters aimed to express their opposition to the ruling government’s support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, which they view—rightly or wrongly—as being influenced by Washington and Brussels.
At one point during the protest, following a speech delivered by Revival MP Deyan Nikolov in which he leveled criticism against Europe and “Euro-Atlantic values,” some participants headed toward the European Commission office in Sofia, which also houses the liaison office of the European Parliament, before vandalizing it with red paint and eggs.
Last December, Revival—which opposes NATO and EU membership—and the Bulgarian Socialist Party both voted against sending military aid to Ukraine on the grounds that doing so would unnecessarily involve Bulgaria in the conflict. Both parties have been repeatedly accused of being pro-Russian.
It’s worth noting that in Bulgaria’s national parliamentary election last month, popular support for Revival surged, with the party achieving its best result ever.
Revival leader Kostadin Kostadinov on Monday, May 22nd in a video statement, criticized the ruling government in Bulgaria for allowing the country to become a “colony of the U.S.”
“In front of the European Commission we did what many citizens’ organizations are doing all over Europe … we expressed our citizens’ protest,” he continued, before characterizing the European Commission office in Sofia as a “temple of the euro-janissary,” a clear reference to the Ottoman infantrymen from the period when Bulgaria was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
The procession is the sixth of its kind to occur since April 23rd but was the first to witness any sort of vandalism take place.
The vandalism predictably and quickly prompted criticism from European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, who said the Commission’s offices in Sofia had been targeted by “vandals unhappy with our stance in support of Ukraine”
“We will clean it up. Our backing of Ukraine will get stronger. Our voice condemning Russia’s invasion will only get louder,” she added.
A spokesman for the European Commission on Monday, May 22nd, said: “We condemn violence and acts of vandalism.”
The Bulgarian foreign ministry, for their part, “categorically condemned” the vandalism, and said the act was “incompatible” with “modern Bulgaria, as well as the democratic values that our country embodies.”
