Nationalist Leader: Muslim Threw Stone at Bulgarian MP!

Volen Siderov, leader of the nationalist Ataka, (L) during Friday's clash. Photo by BGNES

Denitsa Gadzheva, an MP from the Bulgarian far-right Ataka (Attack) party, was hit by a stone thrown by a Muslim during a protest the formation organized, its leader, Volen Siderov, claimed Friday.

Demanding the man who through the should be arrested, Siderov started yelling to police officers and even pushed one of them, according to the BGNES news agency.

"This is not Bulgarian police, this is Turkish police!," the nationalist leader is reported exclaiming. He said his party will ask for Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov's resignation if the individual who threw the stone does not get arrested.

The police arrived at the Banya Bashi mosque in downtown Sofia as Ataka supporters started a brawl in front of it, interrupting a Muslim Friday prayer and and injuring at least one of the prayers. They were protesting the fact it has loudspeakers that sound Muslim prayers in the entire area around it.

As one of the protesters tried to remove a prayer rug from the space in front of the mosque, tension escalated and a fight started between the two groups.

Ataka supporters were reported shouting "Bulgaria" and "Turks, get out", as well as throwing eggs at the prayers.

The nationalist party is the only parliamentary ally of Bulgaria's ruling centrist-right GERB party, which formed a minority government in 2009.

The Banya Bashi mosque in downtown Sofia is a part of the city's unique "triangle of tolerance", encompassing also the St Nedelya Church, and the Sofia Synagogue are located within metres of each other in the very centre of the city.

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