SOFIA: Several thousand supporters of Bulgaria’s ultra-nationalist Revival party scuffled with police on Saturday while trying to storm the building of a European Union mission during a protest against the country’s plans to adopt the euro next year.

The anti-government protesters, chanting “Resignation” and “No to the Euro”, threw red paint, firecrackers and Molotov cocktails at the EU building in the capital Sofia, setting the front door on fire before the police pushed them away.

Around 10 police officers sustained minor injuries and about six people were detained, a senior police official told media after the protest. The government condemned the attack on the EU buildings, saying in a statement that such attacks “are unacceptable and contradict the principles of the rule of law”.

The protests began in front of the European Union country’s central bank, with protesters setting effigies of European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and other officials on fire.

Some waved Bulgarian, Soviet Union or East Ger­man flags, while others carried placards reading “We don’t Want the Euro”. “We don’t want Bulgarian financial independence to be destroyed. We want to keep the Bulgarian lev,” Kosta­din Kostadinov, the Revival party chairman, told me­dia. “We are here to defend our freedom.”

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2025