Bulgaria IntMin Sees Provocation in Videos of Citizen Arrests of Migrants

Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova has suggested the shooting and publication of a video showing citizen's arrests of Afghan migrants might be part of a provocation targeting the state.

This comes after the video, uploaded by a man who is part of vigilante migrant hunters, triggered a public outcry from human rights activists and international media.

Since then, Petar Nizamov, the man who published the footage on Facebook and who took part in the detention tying migrants' hands with plastic straps behind their backs, has been placed under a recognizance order.

But Minister Bachvarova on Friday echoed remarks by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov who asserted there had been steps to destabilize Bulgaria through the migrant situation, citing information from intelligence sources.

Borisov added such attempts had been made in Bulgaria's southwestern neighbor Macedonia as well.

Bachvarova told reporters on Friday the idea was to expose mistakes by the Interior Ministry organized by people who "would like it that there is no stable government, that this government isn't [in office]".

"Playing with this aspect of national security is very dangerous".

This has not been the first occasion for authorities to suggest a scenario might be played out targeting the government.

Earlier this week Borisov suggested systematic effort to discredit him might have been pursued through the story with cartoons taken off the website of NOVA TV, one of the country's two most-watched broadcasters.

In January, he said a row between Russian energy giant Gazprom and private gas supplier Overgas might also be part of a plot against the government.

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