In Bulgaria, police have arrested 71 individuals following brief yet intense clashes that erupted on Monday during the largest protests in over a decade. According to Bloomberg,
on December 1, tens of thousands took to the streets of Sofia and other cities to oppose Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov's coalition. The protests were ignited by a government budget proposal for the year 2026.
Sofia police chief Lyubomir Nikolov stated that the demonstration was generally peaceful, but tensions escalated when a small group of protesters began «unprovoked aggression» towards law enforcement.
He added that the arrested individuals, who have not yet been formally charged, were labeled as «hooligans» responsible for injuring three police officers and damaging public property.
It’s worth noting that on December 1, 2025, protests against the government’s budget plans took place across Bulgaria. Following this, President Rumen Radev called for the resignation of the government and the scheduling of early parliamentary elections.
On December 2, 2025, the Bulgarian government officially withdrew the budget proposal for 2026 after mass protests, which became some of the largest in decades.