The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) said on its Facebook page that it will alert all European institutions and judicial bodies over what it calls police repression and pressure on its mayors. The party says the security services have been turned into a tool of political pressure.
Police officers led Belitsa mayor Radoslav Revanski out of the municipal administration building. A day earlier, DPS leader Delyan Peevski told reporters in parliament that prime minister Rumen Radev orders the raids in Belitsa and Sungurlare from his own office.
See also: Peevski accuses Radev of running police raids from his office
DPS claims police have staged show raids against three of its mayors on three days in a row. The party said earlier that it will also ask the prosecutor's office to check whether political pressure was put on the Belitsa mayor in favour of "Progressive Bulgaria".
The statement says the police and security services' involvement shows fear and panic at the failure of Radev's government. DPS writes that such practices are familiar from the days of State Security, the communist-era secret police, and says Radev will not hide his failure with show raids.
The party asks "Progressive Bulgaria" and Radev whether the raids are part of an election campaign. It also asks whether the reason is DPS's pledge to expose the corruption schemes of "Progressive Bulgaria" and the "Radev-Koprinkov" model, DPS mayors' refusal of "shameful offers" to back that model in return for peace and protection, or criticism of the government's "spineless" foreign policy.
Peevski said the police presence in Belitsa is "unheard of". He said he does not understand the role of the State Agency for National Security, as it has no powers to investigate.
DPS also claims that through its incompetence "Progressive Bulgaria" has declared war on people who cannot cope with high prices, on pensioners, children and the sick, on trade unions, business, farmers, traders, bankers, students, young doctors, the administration and civil servants, and on owners of property and cars.