Protest against Covid-19 green certificates, 2 detained, 9 police officers injured

It is now calm in front of the National Assembly. The traffic of cars in front of the building has been restored. Many police officers have already withdrawn, but the police presence remains strong.

The protest began at noon - peacefully and calmly. The people expressed their demands from the protest stage. Shortly after 1 pm they headed to the National Assembly and crossed one of the police cordons and reached the very gates of the Parliament. They were not allowed inside.

The main demand of the protesters was that the green certificate be abolished.

A cordon of police, metal fences and checks for weapons - this is how the protest began, which in the first hours was peaceful and with one main demand.

Clashes between protesters and police at a protest against Covid-19 green certificate outside Bulgaria’s Parliament

According to the protesters, the Covid-19 green certificate is unconstitutional and should be abolished immediately.

"We want the green certificate to be revoked, because nowadays it is really not normal for a person to live and worry about being healthy and not being able to go on the road, to the shops, to go to school," a protester commented.

In the centre of Sofia, the protesters were from all over the country. Some of them demonstratively set their masks on fire.

"Our demands are to regain our normalcy, not to be discriminated and to call us anti-vaxxers, to release us and our children, to live normally, that's what we want," said a protester.

Kostadin Kostadinov, the leader of “Vazrazhdane” party, who is under quarantine, addressed both the protesters and his colleagues in Parliament:

"Dear compatriots, show those who govern you that it does not matter whether I am in the square or not. Because there is absolutely no difference between me and you. Go, ask them when they will lift the requirement for green certificate," he said.

Shortly afterwards, protesters broke through the cordon and demanded that get inside the Parliament to see the MPs. They also tried to get in through the official entrance. But the refusal to let them in led to a threat and a call for women and children to go behind the men, so that men could break the cordon. This time on the other side of tthe building of the Parliament.

This attempt to talk to MPs was unsuccessful too. There were verbal arguments with the police. Some of the protesters went to the Ministry of Health, again in search of a conversation with the authorities.

During the protest, no serious violations of public order were committed, entry into the building of the National Assembly was prevented, the Ministry of Interior announced later on January 12. Two men were detained before the protests began. A 32-year-old man carrying a gas weapon and a 53-year-old man in whose car ammunition and pyrotechnics were found.

The tension escalated several times in the afternoon in the area of ​​the National Assembly and the police officers managed to prevent an attempt of the protesters to enter the building of the National Assembly. Nine police officers were injured during the protest and were transported to hospitals for examination and medical care.

To demonstrate the need to maintain public peace, police officers involved in security were not equipped with safety helmets and shields. However, their message was not understood and clashes broke out between law enforcement officers and some protesters in the early afternoon. The police called on the protest participants to express their opinion peacefully and without violating public order.

images by Dessilava Kulelieva, BGNES