Police attempting to disperse protesters in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia were left with red faces and stinging eyes after inadvertently showering themselves with pepper spray over the weekend.

Footage which has since racked up thousands of retweets on Twitter shows how at least one police officer tries to aim pepper spray at a group of people staging an anti-government protest outside the Bulgarian parliament on Saturday afternoon.Unfortunately for the person responsible, they hadn't factored in the direction of the wind, which blew the spray back over the police causing them to retreat.

Many of them can be seen rinsing their eyes out with water in the moments after the incident.

the protesters had tried to block the street as they called for early parliamentary elections and respect for democracy.

Bulgarian authorities have since stated that nobody was seriously hurt during the incident.