Three Detained during Sunday Night Protest in Assenovgrad

The protest in the South Bulgarian town of Assenovgrad on the night of 2 July ended without incidents. Thousands of people from across the country took part in it. For sixth day, the protests on Assenovgrad have been ongoing. They were triggered by an inccident on 26 June at the “40 Springs” Lake, where a group of Roma people attacked athletes and coaches from the local rowing club.

For the peaceful conduct of the protest on Sunday evening, specialized teams from several regions of the country were involved, including a dense police cordon.

There are three arrested, the police said. They will be accused of hooliganism, with two of them being sued under the fast track procedure. The unprecedented security measures sparked dissatisfaction with some of the protesters. There were checkss for prohibited substances and objects.

The police managed to handle the situation on Sunday night and despite the escalation of the tension, there were no serious incidents. The police said there had been provocations.

The Director of the Plovdiv Regional Directorate of the Interior Ministry, Chief Commissioner Atanas Ilkov, said on BNT that there was some tension, but the situation was under control. “We were prepared with the adequate number of forces so as not to allow the tension between police and protesters to escalate. There was a case in which one of your colleagues was attacked,” he said.

According to the protesters, many of the residents of the Roma neighborhood (Loznitsa) have left it before the Sunday night's protest.

Mladen Marinov, Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Interior said that persons without the relevant address registration were removed from the neighborhood. This will continue to be systematically applied as a measure of not having any transients.

In the BNT morning programme, citizens of Assenovgrad demanded rapid and adequate actions by the authorities.