50,000 in Bulgaria Protest Rule by Communists

In the biggest public display of opposition to Communist rule ever staged in Bulgaria, tens of thousands of protesters crowded in front of the capital’s main cathedral Sunday, shouting for the government’s resignation and an end to the one-party state.

The National Parliament is expected to vote today to abolish the Communist Party’s leading role.

The demonstration was the third major opposition protest rally since the fall of Communist dictator Todor Zhivkov last Nov. 10, and diplomats said that it was larger and more strident in tone than either of the previous two.

They estimated the crowd at more than 50,000.

As in Czechoslovakia, where mass protests toppled a repressive Communist regime last November, protesters Sunday seemed more exhilarated than aggressive as they shouted demands and tested their new-found freedom.

At one point, protesters made “V for Victory” signs and kept time to the Beatles song, “All You Need Is Love.”

The rally ended with people linking arms and singing “We Are the World,” a song initially written to generate funds for Ethiopian famine relief.

Only a few individual uniformed police were visible around the fringes of the crowd.

During the course of the protest, leading opposition figure Petar Baron called for the resignation of Communist Prime Minister Georgy Atanasov and the formation of a government of national unity.

Despite the demand and calls from the crowd for the government to resign, such a development was judged by Western diplomats here as highly unlikely, although some believe Atanasov might be forced to step down because of his links with the Zhivkov regime.

The new Communist Party leader, former Foreign Minister Petar Mladenov, has already pledged to start reforms and to hold free elections this spring.

Unlike Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria’s opposition is weak and poorly organized.

However, the unexpectedly large size of Sunday’s protest is certain to recapture some of the opposition momentum dissipated in recent days by a dispute over the politically volatile question of the rights of Bulgaria’s Turkish minority.

Hard-line local Communist Party bosses who still control many outlying regions of the country had managed to stoke latent Bulgarian fears of Turks after both the opposition and the new government called for restoring basic human rights to the Turkish minority, who make up slightly more than 10% of the country’s 9 million people.

A tentative settlement of the minorities issue was agreed upon Friday.

The rally came on the eve of a crucial week for the fledgling coalition of about a dozen opposition groups and is likely to strengthen the force of its demands, which include an end to the Communist Party’s leading role.

The Communist-dominated national Parliament is scheduled to vote today to ratify a constitutional amendment that would end the party’s leading role.

On Tuesday, the opposition is scheduled to meet with the new Communist leadership in the first substantive discussions aimed at bringing Bulgaria to complete democracy by later this year.

While the Communists want elections in May, opposition speakers Sunday claimed they need more time to organize for a nationwide poll. They proposed instead that voting be held in May for only some offices, with the balance conducted in November.

“We can’t be ready for full national elections by May,” said Zelio Zhelev, head of the opposition coalition, known as the Union of Democratic Forces.

Opposition speakers repeated earlier demands for a free press, depoliticization of the army and police, an end to party committees in factories and the disbanding of the Interior Ministry’s dreaded security police.

“Give us our files,” the crowd chanted at one point, referring to the dossiers that the security police have kept on many Bulgarians.

While most speakers focused on the opposition’s action program, protesters clearly wanted more, shouting, “Down with the BCP (the Bulgarian Communist Party)!” and “Resign! Resign!” whenever the leadership was mentioned.

After one speaker demanded the resignation of some Communist members of Parliament, the crowd shouted back, “All! All!”

Banners sprinkled through the crowd expressed similar sentiments.

“Zhivkov and His Cronies and Warmongers Out” read one hand-fashioned sign. Another said simply, “Let’s Become European.”

After years of crushing oppression, Sunday’s rally seemed as much a celebration of freedom of expression as a protest against Communist rule.

One reporter barely rescued his notebook after giving it to a woman he had just interviewed so she could spell her name for him.

Those around the woman, believing the notebook to be a petition, grabbed for it and signed it, too.