Minister of Interior, Daniel Mitov, appeared before MPs on Thursday for a parliamentary hearing – his first public appearance since the riots that broke out after Monday evening’s protest. Mitov defended the actions of the Interior Ministry and insisted he had no reason to resign. According to him, responsibility for the vandalism and provocations lies with the protest organisers. He stressed that the event had been authorised solely as a static demonstration and that no march through the city had been coordinated with Sofia Municipality. The Minister also noted that no protester had suffered serious injuries as a result of police actions.
The hearing of Minister of Interior, Daniel Mitov, and the professional leadership was at the request of the 'We Cpontinue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria' (WCC-DB.
Ivaylo Mirchev, WCC–DB:
“Why did you not prevent the arrival of the provocateurs? Why did you not stop them at the stadium, where some of them were coming from? There is video showing a group of provocateurs joining the protest while a police patrol car with flashing lights is visible in the background. Was there deliberate inaction by the police? There are many indications that the excesses were staged – and with the help of the Interior Ministry. Who benefited from this? Very soon after the provocateurs began stirring up trouble, Delyan Peevski issued a statement condemning the protest because of the provocations and blaming his opponents. Such provocations were the only way to drown out the main message of the protest: that 100,000 people were shouting ‘resign’ at the government.”
Mitov went on to list in detail the steps taken by the police to secure the demonstration, but also noted:
Daniel Mitov, Minister of the Interior:
“At 20:20, Kiril Petkov called on protesters to march to the headquarters of ‘DPS – New Beginning’ and the GERB headquarters. At that moment, a new meeting was held with the organiser, who was warned that such a march could lead to a serious escalation of tensions. I repeat – this march had not been authorised by Sofia Municipality. Around 20:30, Kiril Petkov and Nikolay Denkov led part of the protesters down Dondukov Boulevard. I stress again that this march was neither regulated nor approved by the municipality.”
Chief Commissioner Lyubomir Nikolov, Director of the Sofia Directorate of the Interior:
“The headquarters of ‘MRF – New Beginning’ was guarded by a platoon of heavily equipped officers from the Specialised Police Forces. The march, accompanied by our officers, was closely monitored by both uniformed and plain-clothes personnel who recorded every action constituting a gross breach of public order. When tensions escalated outside the MRF headquarters, the Interior Ministry could not remove aggressive individuals from the peaceful crowd without causing harm to peaceful protesters.”
Ivaylo Mirchev requested that video evidence be shown proving that he and other organisers had attempted to remove provocateurs from the protest. Raya Nazaryan replied that such a request should have been made the previous day so that the necessary technical arrangements could be made, and she refused.
Pavela Mitova, TISP:
“Were there ringleaders among the aggressive groups who are closely linked to political parties and already known to the police from similar past incidents?”
Daniel Mitov - Minister of the Interior:
“Among the ringleaders of aggressive groups of 30–40 people, as far as I know, individuals have been identified who are known to police from previous protests linked to specific political formations. The first has the initials Y. M. – in the last elections he was the lead candidate for ‘Velichie’ in Pazardzhik. The other is a man with the initials Y. S., known to police from protest actions involving the MECH party.”
Radostin Vasilev denied that any such individual belonged to their ranks, and MECH again demanded Mitov’s resignation.
Hristo Rasteshki, MECH:
“Mr Mitov, answer me: will you resign, or will you wait until those 100,000 people storm your office and throw you out?”
Daniel Mitov - Minister of the Interior: “A resignation is warranted only when something has happened that has caused mass injuries or when there is a debate about whether the police have used excessive force. The most important thing is that this protest did not end in violence or bloodshed – which was precisely the goal of the provocateurs.”
Mitov also stated that special forces had not been placed on high alert, police officers’ leave had not been cancelled, and the water cannon had not been prepared for use, as such equipment is not deployed in cold weather. According to Chief Commissioner Nikolov, the aggressive actions carried out by certain individuals were intended to provoke the police and were pre-organised.
After nearly five hours of questioning, the positions of the various parliamentary groups remained largely unchanged.
Toma Bikov, GERB–UDF:
“A paradoxical claim was made here – that the government seeks to escalate protests directed against itself. No government wants social tension to escalate against it.”
Ivaylo Mirchev, WCC–DB:
“No one pre-emptively intervened to prevent provocateurs, and there was a clear scenario in place – combined with the unprecedented power outage precisely along the protesters’ route – to sabotage this demonstration. Minister, resign, so that you will be remembered not only as the man who wears a gilet under his jacket, but as the man with stains on his conscience.”
Petar Petrov, “Vazrazhdane”:
“The ministry’s leadership mostly failed to act. The organisation and analysis needed for such an event were lacking.
Kalin Stoyanov, "MRF – New Beginning”:
“WCC–DB ask why someone is wearing a hat, why someone is not. Why the police didn’t intervene when it did, and why, when it didn’t intervene, it did.”
Dragomir Stoynev, BSP – United Left:
“I understand our colleagues from PP–DB. They see the protest as a train they can board. They are trying to drive that train and use this energy for party political gain.”
Toshko Yordanov, There Is Sucha People:
“For the first time, the police did not beat people. Yes, that’s a fact. The police didn’t beat them in the street, and thank God. Otherwise, we’d now be talking about a crying mother, a crying sister, and a poor fellow who threw a few firecrackers at officers – and what the police did to him.”
Nikolay Radulov, MECH:
“Yes, this protest passed without bloodshed. But the facts are not what the minister says – the facts are what we all saw, what hundreds of phones recorded.”
In conclusion, Minister Mitov noted that even before the protest, concerns about provocations had been circulating publicly, which is why he instructed the police to protect the safety of the demonstrators and prevent any escalation that could later be portrayed as police brutality.
Daniel Mitov, Minister of the Interior:
“I commend my colleagues for performing their duties with dignity. No one lost their temper. Officers acted calmly and proportionately, without excessive force, despite the insults, threats, and flying dangerous objects. For us, the priority was to ensure that no peaceful protester was harmed.”
The fact that there were no injuries shows that the police did their job, Mitov said.
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