Anti-vaccine protesters in the Bulgaria capital scuffled with police as they attempted to storm the parliament during a massive rally a massive rally against coronavirus restrictions, Reuters news agency reported. Tensions rose an hour after about 3,000 people gathered in front of the parliament building, demanding the government lift a mandatory health pass which they said trampled on their rights and was a back-door means of forcing people to get vaccinated, Reuters said. Daily coronavirus infections in Bulgaria reached a record high of 7,062 on Wednesday, largely fueled by the Omicron variant, official data showed. Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, who took office last month and pledged to spur vaccinations in the Balkan country, told BTV channel he regretted he could not meet with the protesters, but was ready to do so on Friday, when his quarantine will be over. Petkov, President Rumen Radev and senior ministers went into self-isolation after a participant at a security meeting they attended on Monday tested positive for the coronavirus. However, he reiterated that the health pass would not be lifted. "At this moment, when the cases are surging, and with understanding the link between the number of vaccinated people and the health pass, it cannot be lifted," Petkov said. Protesters, many of whom arrived on buses for the rally, pushed back a police cordon around parliament and reached the front doors of the building. They stopped short of breaking in and called on lawmakers to come out and address their demands. Several people, including police officers, were injured during the brief clashes. Waving national flags and flags of the ultra-nationalist Revival party, which organized the rally, they chanted "Freedom" and "Mafia" and decried all measures against the virus. "I do not approve of the green certificates. I do not approve that the children are being stopped from attending classes. I do not see the logic of these things," 39-year-old engineer Asparuh Mitov told Reuters at the start of the rally. Bulgarians have to wear masks indoors and on public transport and show a health pass, given to people who are vaccinated, recovered or who have tested negative for the virus, to get into restaurants, cafes and shopping malls and gyms. The least vaccinated country in the European Union, Bulgaria reported record high daily infections on Wednesday, largely fueled by the highly contagious Omicron variant. — Agencies
