The two neighbouring southern European countries, Serbia and Bulgaria, sharing 318 km of common borderline, have been experiencing a surge in anti-government protests over the week.
Bulgaria
For the third day in a row, thousands of Bulgarians protested demanding the resignation of the centre-right government of the current Bulgarian Prime Minister and the country’s chief prosecutor.
Bulgarians came out to the streets in masses to protest against the endemic corruption in their country.
Protesters were heard chanting “Mafia” and “Resign” during the protests.
The protesters accuse Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s third government and chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev of intentionally delaying investigations into links between graft-prone officials (officials using political corruption for personal gains) and local oligarchs (the small number of people holding all of the power in the country).
Protesters called their country’s rule as a “state capture” and “mafia-style” rule.
Bulgarian police arrested 18 people late Friday during the anti-corruption protests.
Prime Minister Borissov in a post on his Facebook page said, “We have done so much already, we have made so much efforts, nothing is keeping us in office except for responsibility”.
Being the European Union’s poorest and most corrupt country, Bulgaria has long claimed to fight corruption but has yet to jail any senior officials on corruption charges.
Serbia
For the fifth consecutive night, thousands of Serbians protested in the Serbian capital, Belgrade.
The protests in Serbia were initially a result of the frustration over the governments economically choking policies to control the spread of the COVID-19 but gradually developed into anti-government rallies that called on Prime Minister Vucic to resign.
The cities of Novi Sad, Zrenjanin, Cacak and Nis also took part in peaceful protests.
However, on Friday, protesters threw flares and stones in a clash with the police, resulting in 14 police officers being injured and 71 people arrested, the Serbian police stated.
Many protesters alleged that the government was underestimating the coronavirus cases in order to allow the elections to proceed.
Prime Minister Vucic dismissed the allegations of the protesters and described the protests as “senseless.”