Praise has come in for the banning of the “Lukov March” in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia, an event held in tribute to a pro-Nazi Bulgarian general who led the fascist Union of Bulgarian National Legions in the 1930s up till his assassination in the 1940s.
First held in Sofia in 2003, the Lukov March annually has drawn neo-Nazis from elsewhere in Europe to Bulgaria’s capital to join in a torchlight procession in honour of Lukov, whom local extremists falsely seek to portray as a patriotic hero.
Successfully banned in 2020, the February 13 2021 event again was the subject of a banning order by Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandukova. Police prevented a large-scale procession going ahead, though wreaths were laid outside Lukov’s house in central Sofia.