Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

No arrests have been made following last night's violent protest in front of the National Theater

Photo: BTA

No arrests have been made for last night's riots in front of the Ivan Vazov National Theater in Sofia during a protest against the new prodution "Guns and the Man", directed by John Malkovich. This was announced to BNT by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Atanas Ilkov. 

At a briefing, he described the response of the police as quick, adequate and immediate. 60 riot police officers were sent to the scene, although the Sofia Directorate for Internal Affairs had no information about provocations involving football hooligans. 


Today, the prosecutor's office assigned the Sofia Directorate for Internal Affairs to identify the violators of the order, and they have already been identified. When asked why there were no arrests after protesters attacked theater director Vasil Vasilev, animator Teodor Ushev and actor Vladimir Penev, the police explained that in such a situation the goal is first to "tame the tension" and then proceed to arrest.

According to the Sofia Directorate for Internal Affairs, there was no way to make a cordon last night so that the spectators with tickets could enter the theater, as there were provocateurs among them. "I thank my colleagues for doing a great job, for not allowing the escalation of tension, for not taking actions to detain persons in the situation in which the tension was escalating, because then you would have asked questions: "How exactly did you allow the center of Sofia to bleed in front of the National Theater?", said the director of the Metropolitan Directorate of Internal Affairs, Lyubomir Nikolov.

A protest and a counter-protest are planned for this evening in front of the National Theater.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Bulgarian AI chat BgGPT can be used for free by everyone

The Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski has made available for free use the latest generative artificial intelligence chat application BgGPT , available at bggpt.ai ...

published on 11/24/24 2:37 PM
President Rumen Radev in Vietnam

Bulgaria's President Rumen Radev begins his official visit to Vietnam

President Rumen Radev has arrived on an official visit to Vietnam . This is the first visit of a foreign head of state since the new President Leung Cuong took office in October this year. President Rumen Radev meets the Bulgarian community in..

published on 11/24/24 12:52 PM
Vazrazdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov

The Economic and Social Council with strong reaction against Vazrazhdane-proposed bill on foreign agents

The Economic and Social Council of the Republic of Bulgaria strongly criticizes the bill tabled by Vazrazhdane party on the registration of foreign agents submitted to the National Assembly. In a resolution, the Council described the proposals as..

published on 11/24/24 12:09 PM