2013–2014 Bulgarian protests against the Oresharski cabinet

2013–2014 Bulgarian protests against the Oresharski cabinet
Протести срещу кабинета "Орешарски"
2013–2014 Bulgarian protests against the Oresharski cabinet; Протести срещу кабинета "Орешарски"
	8 July 2013, protesters in Sofia blocked the biggest boulevard in the city – "Tsarigradsko Shose"
Date	14 June 2013 – 23 July 2014 ; (1 year, 1 month and 9 days)
Location	Bulgaria, primarily Sofia
Caused by	Government corruption; General failure of the democratic system; Political deals under the table; Inappropriate political figures as part of the new government; Appointments of regional governors affiliated with the MRF; Appointment of Delyan Peevski in DANS; Eclectic nature of the governing coalition and perceived government dependence on Attack; Suspicions that the government is favorable to energy deals with Russia that are likely to conflict with European Union legal regulations; Government policy when it comes to taking foreign loans; Various irregularities on the day preceding the parliamentary election;
Methods	Street marches; Student protests; Sit-ins; Occupations;
Resulted in	Kalin Tiholov replaced by Ivan Danov as Investment Planning Minister (arguably as a measure of pre-empting the protests); nomination of Ivan Ivanov as deputy Minister of Interior withdrawn, Yordan Gramov assumes the position; Delyan Peevski steps down as head of DANS, Vladimir Pisanchev takes his place on 19 July 2013 after a vote in Parliament; Volen Siderov gives up his Parliamentary immunity; five no-confidence motions brought in Parliament by GERB (defeated); changes to the electoral rules approved by the National Parliament in January and February 2014; counter-protests in support of the government and against president Rosen Plevneliev; student occupations of universities; continued protests, with a small turnout; Oresharski government resigns on 23 July 2014; Bliznashki government officially appointed by the president on 5 August 2014; early Parliamentary elections take place on 5 October 2014;
Parties
anti-government demonstrators	Government of Bulgaria
Lead figures
	; no officially designated leaders (decentralized leadership) ; Plamen Oresharski (Prime Minister); Tzvetlin Yovchev (Minister of Interior); Sergei Stanishev (leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party); Lyutvi Mestan (leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms)
Number
Between 10,000 and 20,000 anti-government protesters (in the months of June and July) in Sofia 3,000 in Plovdiv 1,000 - 2,000 in Varna 300 - 350 in Bourgas 150 in Stara Zagora 100 in Rousse, Shoumen, Gabrovo and Sliven	100 - 1,000 pro-government counter-protesters in Sofia 1,000+ in Kardzhali 500+ in Vidin 150 in Blagoevgrad
	8,000 police officers deployed in total (between 20 and 500 per day), 811 members of the Gendarmerie
Casualties
Death(s)	0 (None)
Injuries	20+
Arrested	280+

The 2013–2014 Bulgarian protests against the Oresharski cabinet was a series of demonstrations that were held in Bulgaria, mainly in the capital Sofia, against the left-wing coalition cabinet of Oresharski (coalition between Bulgarian Socialist Party and Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), supported by the ultra-nationalist party Ataka). The demonstrations started on 28 May 2013, but actual large-scale protests did not emerge until 14 June.
While the trigger factor for the demonstrations was the controversial appointment of Delyan Peevski as head of DANS in June 2013, the public discontent stemmed from a variety of causes, to a large extent connected to the general nature of the BSP-MRF governing coalition and perceived legitimacy issues surrounding political processes in Bulgaria. They ended in July 2014 with the resignation of the Oresharski government.

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