National protest at the start of the autumn session of Parliament, clashes between protesters and the police

About 40 people were detained, some taken to hospital after clashes with the police during the protests.

BNT reporter Nikolai Minkov, who was covering the events about 12:30 and taken to hospital by ambulance. On several occasions he found himself in the heart of the clashes and was affected by pepper sprays.

About 12:07, protesters were throwing bales of hay at the police, then tried to set them on fire. In response, the police pushed the crowd away.

Police urged citizens to maintain a peaceful form of protest, not to succumb to provocations and not to get carried away by acts of aggressive behaviour.

At 10.58 am, the protesters marched to the intersection of Dondukov Blvd. and Rakovski St., with the intention of blocking traffic in the area.

At 10.25 am, when the MPs left the building of the National Asembly, the protesters greeted them with shouts of "Resignation" and boos. Protesters were also throwing eggs at the building.

At 10:13 a.m., protesters began digging out cobblestones from the street.

At 9:45 a.m., serious clashes broke out again between protesters and police. This happened several times this morning.

At around 8:45 a.m., President Rumen Radev and Vice President Iliana Yotova left the Presidency building and went to the National Assembly, where the head of state addressed MPs and the public.

One of the organizers of the protests, Arman Babikyan, told BNT that the aim today is to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Borissov. For 55 days we tried to explain what it is about, he commented.

Tensions erupted between protesters and police at around 8 p.m. Before that, eggs were thrown at the National Assembly building.