Bulgarian Nationalist leader: Muslim Threatened Us with Knife!

Politics » DOMESTIC | May 22, 2011, Sunday // 19:21
Bulgaria: Bulgarian Nationalist leader: Muslim Threatened Us with Knife! Volen Siderov (left), leader of far-right nationalist party Ataka, is fighting police officers arresting Ataka activists who assaulted praying Muslims at the Banya Bashi mosque. Photo by BGNES

Supporters of the nationalist Bulgarian Ataka (Attack) party were threatened by Muslims, one of whom carrying a knife, on Friday, according to its notorious leader, Volen Siderov.

On Friday far-right extremists from the Ataka party assaulted praying Muslims. The outburst occurred while the nationalists led by their  Siderov staged a rally near the Banya Bashi mosque in Sofia protesting against the use of loudspeakers by the mosque. Several people ended up injurfed, including Denitsa Gadzheva, an Ataka MP, who was presumably hit by a stone thrown by a Muslim.

On Sunday, during a talk show on the private Nova TV, Siderov showed a picture of what he described as Gadzheva's "disfigured" face, as well as a photo of a man carrying a knife in front of the mosque. He refuted statements that his supporters were  throwing eggs at the Muslims, stating it was the other way around. The nationalist leader reiterated the Ataka supporters were attacked by "Islamist extremists" while staging a "peaceful" protest.

Earlier on Sunday, Velichko Konakchiev, the anchor of a popular Bulgarian radio broadcast was forced to interrupt it afte rSiderov and ethnic Turkish MP Korman Ismailov allegedly went for a fight while on air.

In Konakchiev's  words, Siderov turned on Ismailov, Member of Parliament, who was recently expelled from the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms for his opposition to the leader Ahmed Dogan. The nationalist was infuriated by criticism over the recent clashes between members of his nationalist party and Muslims.

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Tags: nationalist, Volen Siderov, Ataka, muslims, knife

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