Members of the island’s Bulgarian community have united to protest corruption in their country.

Protests have been ongoing in the Bulgarian capital Sofia for almost two weeks over allegations of corruption and abuse of power in the government there.

Held outside the Bulgarian Food Shop on Windsor Road, Douglas, more than 30 Bulgarians who have made the island their home protested against beleaguered Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

Over the weekend, the New York Times reported: ’The current unrest was set off by the revelation that a stretch of publicly owned coast had been reserved for the private use of a prominent businessman and power broker.

’For many, this crystallized fears that the Bulgarian state has fallen under the grip of outside influence, prompting tens of thousands to demonstrate in cities across the country.’

Krum Gogov, who lives in Douglas, moved to the island just under 10 years ago and said the Bulgarian population in the island could be as many as 800 strong.

Mr Gogov said his parents and brother still live in Bulgaria but said that corruption is a ’big problem’ for the country which has led to up to two million Bulgarians leaving their homeland to move across the world.

Having peaked at 8.9m in the late 1980s, it is believed the population of Bulgarian had steadily fallen to just 7m by 2019.

He told the Examiner that after coming to see friends in the island, he decided to move here and said it is ’a very good and safe place’ as well as being ’very beautiful’.