On January 11, when all EU commissioners arrive to Sofia for the official opening of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, a peaceful demonstration in support of the ratification of the so-called Istanbul Convention will be held in front of parliament.

In recent weeks, the document has been subject to political debates and caused controversy because of claims that it created preconditions for legalizing homosexual marriages, studying transvestitism at school, as well as granting refugee status to "transvestites from Iran".

The Alliance for protection against gender-based violence, however, challenges this view as an attempt to divert attention from the problem of violence against women, which it believes was huge.