Sean Carney
Wall Street Journal
SOFIA—Weeks of daily anticorruption demonstrations
in Bulgaria turned violent Tuesday, adding to pressure on the country's
new prime minister hours after he had brushed off calls from protesters
to step down.
A group of unidentified activists broke off from the main protest
outside the Parliament around midnight and began throwing stones,
smashing some car windows, according to a police officer at the scene
who declined to give his name.
A protest organizer said 10 people were
injured, none seriously. About 100 people were stuck inside the
building late Tuesday, prevented from leaving by the activists.
On Wednesday morning, police said they escorted out those who had been trapped overnight.
Barricades set up by protesters were removed and the streets were
cleared of garbage. Protests planned for Wednesday morning, which
organizers said would reach 5,000 people, had not yet materialized, with
only around 100 people still demonstrating outside the building.
Tuesday was the first time the protests, which were in their 40th
day, had become violent. Similar street demonstrations had caused the
previous government to collapse last spring.
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