Yane Yanev, the controversial leader of Bulgaria's marginal conservative Law, Order and Justice party, has accused the country's Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov of personally protecting alleged mafia boss Kiril Rashkov during the recent Katunitsa clashes.

On Wednesday, Yanev called for interim Interior Minister Veselin Vuchkov to admit whether Tsvetanov has asked him to protect Rashkov during the protests that erupted in the southern village of Katunitsa and subsequently led to ethnic tensions across the country.

In an interview for the Nova TV private channel, Yanev, known in Bulgaria as a whistleblower. demanded that Tsvetanov and Vuchkov should resign if it is proven that they deliberately protected the alleged mafia boss.

Earlier on Wednesday, oppositional Bulgarian Socialist Party's presidential runner Ivaylo Kalfin claimed that Kiril Rashkov aka Tsar Kiro was working for and supporting the ruling centrist-right GERB.

Rashkov, the self-proclaimed "Tsar Kiro", was apprehended by Bulgarian police authorities after he allegedly threatened to kill two individuals, Veselin Hristov and Ivanka Petrova, in the village of Katunitsa.

Rashkov's  grandson – Kiril Rashkov Jr., has also been charged with making death threats.

The indictment stems from the claim, deposited on October 1 by Veselin Hristov, saying that Rashkov Jr. had made death threats against Hristov's nephew, Angel Petrov, 19, minutes before the latter was run over by a minivan, driven by an associate of Tsar Kiro. Petrov died as result of the incident.

On the fatal night of the murder, September 23, Hristov made two calls to the 112 emergency hotline – the first one was to report the threats; the second – that there were clashes in front of Tsar Kiro's mansion in Katunitsa, which became the crime scene minutes later when Petrov was run over.

Bulgaria became gripped by week-long protests, after the September 23 murder. At some locations protests have turned violent and anti-Roma racist slogans were shouted. Over 350 have been arrested. Tsar Kiro is probed for tax evasion and is held under permanent detention.

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