SEVERAL dozen anti-fascists rallied in Sofia on Saturday in protest against a far-right commemoration of pro-Nazi World War II general Hristo Lukov.

Neonazis have held rallies in honour of Lukov, the head of the fascist and anti-semitic Union of Bulgarian National Legions from 1932-43, since 2003 on February 13, the anniversary of his 1943 assassination by communist partisans Ivan Burudzhiev and Violeta Yakova, the latter of whom was hunted down and executed aged just 21 the following year.

This year’s rally was prohibited but far-right militants gathered in Sofia to lay flowers at Lukov’s former house, with police facilitating their doing so in small groups because of Covid restrictions. Many bore flaming torches as carried at Nazi rallies, and now at marches organised by Ukrainian fascists honouring Nazi collaborators such as Stepan Bandera.