Nationalist Leader: Islamist Terrorists Threatened Us, Helped by Police

Politics » DOMESTIC | May 20, 2011, Friday // 18:48
Bulgaria: Nationalist Leader: Islamist Terrorists Threatened Us, Helped by Police Volen Siderov, Ataka party leader, is shown here kept away by policemen as his party members attacked praying Muslims. Photo by BGNES

The Bulgarian police are using double standards by cracking down on the nationalists, according to Volen Siderov, leader of the far-right and nationalist party Ataka, which assaulted praying Muslims in Sofia Friday.

The incident occurred near the Banya Bashi mosque in downtown Sofia. The brawl that the nationalists and their leader Volen Siderov started as part of a protest against the mosque's loudspeakers has led to an unprecedented for Bulgaria interruption of the Muslims' Friday's prayer. Five police officers were wounded in the ensuing fight.

The police arrested two Ataka members in the brawl; Ataka leader Volen Siderov later went to the 5th police department in Sofia to demand their release only to find out that they have been transferred to a hospital.

According to Siderov, there is footage showing how the police release Muslims that they initially arrested, while detaining the Ataka members.

"I have evidence of police brutality because I saw it on the spot how our activists were beaten and kicked by the police," Siderov declared.

The Ataka leader insists that his party's members were provoked by the praying Muslims while the former were staging their protests against the loudspeakers of the Banya Bashi mosque. Siderov claims he had warned the police about threats he had received from praying Muslims.

Ataka party MP Denitsa Gadzheva was also taken the police department; she got six stitches after she received a wound when hit on the head with a thrown object. She herself did not see who threw it at her but said she hoped witnesses will be found.

"She was hit with a stone by an Islamist terrorist," - this is how Ataka leader Volen Siderov described his colleagues wound.

"These are people preaching jihad. These are people who shouted "Death!" in our faces. Somebody ordered the police to release the arrested Muslim, and to detain the Ataka members," Siderov further alleged.

In his words, the local mufti gave orders to the police, and threatened once again that he would withdraw his party's support for the minority government of the GERB party and Boyko Borisov.

"If this situation continues, it won't end well for GERB. Now that we see that GERB is not conducting pro-Bulgarian policies, I cannot guarantee that we will be supporting GERB in Parliament," Siderov threatened.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!

Domestic » Be a reporter: Write and send your article
Tags: Ataka, nationalists, Volen Siderov, mosque, Banya Bashi, Bulgarian Muslims, muslims, DPS, ethnic Turkish, GERB, Boyko Borisov, mufti

Advertisement
Advertisement
Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News." Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria. Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper. News Bulgaria