The Minister of Internal Affairs, Kalin Stoyanov, stated that he will not resign.
“It is appropriate to summarize the situation from last night. We all witnessed an unprecedented pogrom in the center of Sofia. Only the timely reaction of the SDVR employees and the gendarmerie prevented more serious damage and even casualties. That is why I am surprised at the request for my resignation. Why? Because thousands of employees of the Ministry of the Interior have done their job. If I resign, it means betraying them. I do not think that the Minister of the Interior should be a scapegoat for the long-standing problems in the BFS,” Stoyanov emphasized.
“There is no police in the world that would stand idly by and watch municipal and private property being destroyed. The actions that were taken last night by officers of the SDVR and the Gendarmerie were reciprocal to the aggression on the part of fans whose goal was definitely to bleed the protest. I stand behind all the employees who last night risked their lives to prevent something much more serious. In just an hour riots were quelled, which in some European countries are turning into mass ones. At the same time, I do not condone the actions of individual employees who “exceeded their powers and did not cope with the task – not to succumb to provocations. That is why the director of the SDVR has already appointed an internal investigation into the whole situation. Anyone who exceeded their rights will bear their responsibility,” Kalin Stoyanov pointed out.
Stoyanov thanked the policemen who helped those injured in the clashes.
“We were prepared for any actions by the fans, it was not by chance that nearly 1,600 policemen were stationed in the center of Sofia. The provocateurs appeared later. According to the law on the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the operational management is entrusted to the chief secretary. And with this I answer the question – why the minister was not on the spot. I am part of the political leadership of the Ministry of the Interior and as such I should not lead the operational interaction with the employees on the ground. But all the time I was in contact with the chief secretary of the Ministry of the Interior and the director of the Ministry of Internal Affairs” , the interior minister summarized.
Stoyanov announced that he was not at the meeting in the Council of Ministers because at the same time he was at a hearing in the parliamentary committee on Schengen issues. After that, he had a meeting at the Ministry of the Interior with seven directors of the border divisions in the country, with whom the migration situation was discussed.
“I haven’t been to a pub or a disco. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is a consultant for a film about phone scams that will be released very soon. This is a serious problem for our society and my presence there was for work, not for fun. . Unless someone thinks the problem of phone scams is funny. I haven’t been with my phone turned off either,” the minister said.
“There is no tension between me and Prime Minister Academician Denkov. I told him in the morning conversation that everything went normally. But the provocateurs appeared later,” added Stoyanov.
“I have not succumbed to pressure” – this is how the interior minister answered a question about whether he was pressured by the PP-DB to work in their favor during the elections, as the chairman of the PG of the DPS Delyan Peevski said earlier today.
The SDVR management announced that more than 30 people were detained. Most of them with criminal activities. One of the persons was given a measure imposed for a period of 72 hours, as it is believed that he is the arsonist of the bus.
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