Hristo Lukov

Amidst mounting controversy, the Sofia Municipality has issued a stern warning against the potential continuation of the contentious Lukov March, emphasizing its commitment to preventing the procession from taking place today.

A woman holds the portrait of General Hristo Lukov during a march in Sofia13 on February 2021. Members of several nationalist organizations took part in the march in the commemoration. Photo: EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV

Bulgaria's Interior Ministry is monitoring the situation in the country and the capital because of the Lukov March planned for this Saturday in Sofia, Interior Minister Mladen Marinov said. Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova has issued an order banning the Lukov March. Fandakova expects the police would ensure the public order.

Organisers of a controversial far-right annual march have said they will ignore a ban imposed by Mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova, and their rally will go ahead as planned this Saturday. The mayor banned the "Lukovmarch" event on Thursday.

The organisers of the Lukov March, commemorating the memory of controversial Bulgarian general Hristo Lukov, said on their website last week that their 17th annual nationalist march will be held on February 22, the date on which Lukov was assassinated.

The announcement came despite the prosecution announcing on Friday that it will examine whether or not the march is legal.

The prosecutor's office is launching an investigation of the Bulgarian National Union. The union is organizer of Lukov March which takes place on 22 February, an event banned by order of Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandakova.

Members of nationalist organizations marching in Sofia, Bulgaria, during the 2018 annual march commemorating General Hristo Nikolov Lukov.  Photo: EPA-EFE/BORISLAV TROSHEV

For a second year in a row I have issued an order prohibiting the Lukov March procession, Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova said in response to accusations from the BSP that the municipality was not taking measures to prevent the procession, Focus News Agency reports. She called the accusations propaganda and said the march organisers had appealed against the order.

A report released this week exposes antisemitic rhetoric used on social media by the far-right activists behind the Lukov March in Bulgaria, a torch-lit ceremony that consists of nationalists and neo-Nazis from across Europe.

The annual February march in Sofia is held in remembrance of Gen. Hristo Lukov, a Nazi ally who sent 11,300 Jews to the Nazi death camp of Treblinka in Poland.

Bulgaria's foreign ministry has condemned a march by hundreds of far-right supporters in honour of a Bulgarian general who led a pro-Nazi organisation in the 1930s and 40s.

The two-hour torchlit procession went ahead in the capital, Sofia, on Saturday night despite calls from Bulgaria's largest parties, the US embassy and several Jewish organisations for it to be scrapped.