(3 Sep 2020) Bulgarian President Rumen Radev is calling on the government to step down echoing the demands of thousands of protesters for the resignations of the prime minister and the chief prosecutor accusing them of allowing an oligarchic mafia to seize control of the country.
In the biggest protest so far in nearly two months of anti-government rallies, hundreds of police officers in riot gear on Wednesday cordoned off the parliament building trying to protect it from protesters who were throwing stones and plastic bottles, eggs and garbage.
Police answered by firing pepper spray at them.
Several people have been detained and dozens of injured were taken to hospital.
In an address to lawmakers during the opening session of parliament, Radev called the resignations the only way out of the political crisis that has gripped the Balkan country for nearly two months.
He said that parliament should not replace the agenda of the society: "There is no way of emerging from this dead-end-street other than peacefully, with the usual political act of resigning when confidence is lost."
Despite earlier statements that he might step down, Borissov is now saying that he is answering protesters' demands for a restart of the political system by launching a very contentious revision of the constitution.
On Thursday, he will try to win the support of half of the lawmakers required to start up to five months of parliamentary debates on a new constitution, a move that could allow him to remain in office until the regular elections next March.
The president called on the legislators to dismiss Borissov's plans for a new constitution.
"Not the lack of a new constitution brought the people on the streets, but rather the lack of morality in the leadership, the erosion of statehood and the corruption," he said.
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