Hundreds of asylum seekers demonstrated in the accommodation center in Harmanli, southern Bulgaria, over the conditions offered to them.

The residents complained about the food and lodging offered by the camp, setting out different demands such as an escort to Serbia, where they can head on to Western Europe. Others asked to be granted refugee status immediately.

Police and representatives of the local administration arrived at the site and talked them out of the protest in the afternoon, but police presence remained heavy in the area, according to the Bulgarian National Radio.

There were no clashes with police and no detentions of asylum seekers during the protest.

There are as many as 3000 people living in Bulgaria's biggest camp as of Monday, most of them with pending protection requests, Dimitar Zahariev, who runs the accommodation center, is quoted as saying.

The residents cannot be granted any status immediartely as the procedure goes on between three and six months, he added. 

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