Demonstrations in support of Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev are set to intensify on Tuesday evening, expanding beyond Bulgaria to four major European cities. Organisers of the protests have said that rallies will be held simultaneously at 18:30 local time in Sofia, Berlin, Munich, Brussels and London.

Kotsev was detained last week following an operation by Bulgaria’s Anti-Corruption Commission. He has been charged with participating in an organised criminal group, abuse of office, corruption and money laundering.

The centrist PP-DB coalition has condemned the case as a 'targeted and coordinated attack against the democratic authorities in Varna', accusing prosecutors, the police and the judiciary of being used to destabilise the local government.

'Our protest is in support of Blagomir Kotsev and his family, and against the double standards of the judiciary,' said Dilyana Velichkova, an organiser of the Berlin demonstration and a member of the local Bulgarian community, in an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio.

'We are gathering to defend law and justice in Bulgaria. Even though we do not live in Bulgaria, we are strongly connected to it. This humiliating arrest is just the latest in a series of such cases,' she said, adding that the issue goes beyond politics and should concern all Bulgarian citizens.