Bulgarian President Calls Up National Security Council over Ethnic Clashes
Domestic | September 27, 2011, Tuesday // 15:50| views"The state institutions will be united, we will be sufficiently firm in our reaction to radical, extremist attitudes," Bulgarian President, Georgi Parvanov vowed Monday with respect to the possible provocations of ethnic clashes. Photo by BGNES
Bulgarian President, Georgi Parvanov, is calling an emergency meeting of the Consultative National Security Council, KSNS, over escalating ethnic tensions in the country.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 2 pm on October 1 at the presidential building and will be titled: "Current problems in internal security – emergency measures to guarantee law and order in the country and prevent and counter ethnic tensions."
Reports are to be prepared by Deputy Interior Minister, Veselin Vuchkov, who is temporarily in charge of the Ministry since Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, is on leave over being the Head of the Election Headquarters of his ruling, center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, GERB, party and by the Head Secretary of the Interior, Chief Commissar, Kalin Georgiev.
Under Bulgaria's legislation, members of KSNS include the Speaker of the Parliament, the Prime Minister, the Ministers of Defense, of the Interior, and of Finances, the Director of the State Agency for National Security, DANS, the Army Chief of Staff, and the chairs of all parliamentary groups.
Chief Prosecutor, Boris Velchev, has been invited to the meeting as well.
Meanwhile, Velchev ordered Tuesday all his subordinates across the country to treat cases of ethnic hate as a priority, and police to make timely arrests.
The leader of the main opposition force – the left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, Sergey Stanishev, accused the Interior of being inadequate, passive and helpless thus contributing to the escalation of violence. The Socialists demand that Tsvetanov appears in the Parliament Wednesday for a hearing.
Tensions in the Plovdiv Region and the entire country escalted after associates of notorious Roma boss Kiril Rashkov AKA Tsar Kiro from the Plovdiv district of Stolipinovo ran over and killed 19-year-old Angel Petrov from the village of nearby Katunitsa late Friday. The incident flared large-scale violence and protests which culminated Saturday night in an attack on Rashkov's properties, allegedly staged by several hundred football fans.
In addition, more than 100 people in total were arrested by the police in a number Bulgarian cities after a wave of small-scale but vigorous rallies Monday night.
The protesters rallied against Angel Petrov' murder, but also because of the "Roma issue", i.e. what they see as a "privileged situation" of the Roma minority in Bulgaria.
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