(Reuters) - Thousands of Spaniards fed up with economic misery and waving banners against bankers marched on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of the grassroots "Indignados" movement that has sparked similar protests around the world.

Up to 600 people denouncing the Bank of England rallied in London and a Reuters witness said scuffles broke out between some demonstrators and police, with at least 12 arrests.

Bulgarian bankers are seeing an unprecedented rush of clients, who want to pay off their loans in advance, prompted by uncertainty about their job and incomes in the coming months.

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev and Russian Patriarch Kirill have underscored the common cultural heritage of the people of Bulgaria and Russia during their meeting in Sofia Saturday.

On Saturday, Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, was received by the Bulgarian state leaders, including President Plevneliev.

(Reuters) - On Monday, a 38-year-old geology lecturer hanged himself from a lamp post in Athens and on the same day a 35-year-old priest jumped to his death off his balcony in northern Greece. On Wednesday, a 23-year-old student shot himself in the head.

In a country that has had one of the lowest suicide rates in the world, a surge in the number of suicides in the wake of an economic crisis has shocked and gripped the Mediterranean nation - and its media - before a May 6 election.

About 1000 students and teachers from Bulgaria's National Sports Academy (NSA) attended a rally in Sofia on April 18, briefly disrupting traffic at a busy intersection in protest against private construction on the grounds of NSA's training facility in Nessebur on the Black Sea.

The land, albeit part of the training facility for decades, has been legally restituted to the descendants of those who owned it prior to mass land expropriation by the communist regime in the late 1940s.

Bulgaria is among the EU countries with largest depopulation of rural areas (-13.2‰ in 2011), while the largest share of people lives in suburban (intermediate) areas.

The role of political and business blogs in Bulgaria is negligible as the majority of online readers see them as tools for spreading rumors, rather than uncovering truths the mainstream media might have missed, a survey shows.

Bulgarians browse the web mostly looking for social networking, news and entertainment, but tend to ignore almost completely blogs, according to a poll, conducted by Sova Haris agency.

Bulgarian State servants have been flocking banks in search of loans so that they can return the bonuses obtained in the last two years.

The Bulgarian Standard daily writes Thursday, citing their own sources, that the most discussed subject in the country's ministries has been how to find ways to reimburse the treasury with money that has already been spent.

Lawyer Ralitsa Negentsova is the new Chair of the Supreme Bar Council, according to the results of the final vote count which ended late on Sunday.

Negentsova's prior position was Chair of the Supreme Disciplinary Court of the Bulgarian Bar.

She will replace Daniela Dokovska, who is not eligible to run for another term in office.

"Martenitsas" made in China have flooded the Bulgarian market ahead of the country's traditional Baba Marta holiday, an indigenous folklore tradition that marks the beginning of spring.

A mass invasion of Martenitsas (red-and-white interwoven strings) made in China has been observed over the last few days, according to the BGNES news agency.

The latest round of protests against what ralliers believe to be excessively high fuel prices took place in Bulgaria Sunday.

Some 600 protesters gathered in capital Sofia, where they temporarily blocked traffic at the Orlov Most bridge intersection downtown.

Thousands of ordinary people and Bulgaria's most high-ranking state officials will commemorate Sunday the 139th anniversary of the death of national hero, freedom fighter Vasil Levski.