Resignations demanded after the football protests in Sofia

published on 11/17/23 12:07 PM

PM Nikolay Denkov

Photo: BGNES

Bulgaria's Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Stoyan Temelakiev has been fired, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov announced earlier today. "Instead of a football celebration, we observed ugly scenes of violence. Mainly because of the management of the Bulgarian Football Union which has been led to decline. There are mistakes on the part of the Ministry of the Interior," Denkov said at a press briefing.

The Prime Minister announced that he would discuss the resignation of Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov with Deputy Prime Minister Mariya Gabriel, because he made an inadequate assessment of the situation. Stoyanov's resignation was also requested by the co-chairman of the ruling coalition "We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria" (PP-DB) Kiril Petkov.

The chairman of the MRF parliamentary group Delyan Peevski objected and announced that the interior minister was pressured during the local elections to work in favour of the PP-DB.

GERB leader Boyko Borisov demanded the resignations of sports minister Dimitar Iliev and the chairman of the Bulgarian Football Union Borislav Mihailov. Acting chief prosecutor Borislav Sarafov ordered the prosecutor's office to conduct an inspection of the management of the Bulgarian Football Union because of media publications about financial crimes, including the "black lottery", reports BTA.

At the end of his press conference and the blocked work of the parliament, the prime minister said: "I will not give in to pressure. GERB and MRF, who are always together lately, as we see, have every right to overthrow the government. Let them do it"!

At a briefing, Minister of the Interior Kalin Stoyanov stated that the director of the Sofia metropolitan directorate of the interior had initiated an internal probe as a matter of urgency, to establish whether any police officers overstepped their powers during last night’s protest by football fans in Sofia. In his words, the adequate reaction by the police prevented more serious damage, or even casualties.

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