site.btaSeveral Complaints Had Been Filed Against Foreigners Involved in Bansko Confrontation, Police Says

Police have identified those involved in a confrontation between Bulgarian and foreign nationals in the Bulgarian mountain resort of Bansko on August 2. 

The incident was initially reported by Italian media, which said the confrontation took place outside a hotel in Sofia and involved antisemitic acts against visiting Italian Jewish students. Bulgaria's Interior Ministry later clarified to BTA that the reports referred to a single incident that occurred in Bansko, not Sofia.

Chief Inspector Hristiyan Parmakov, head of the Bansko District Police Department, told a news briefing on Wednesday that several complaints had previously been filed against the group of foreign nationals over disorderly behaviour during their stay in the town.

Parmakov said the complaints included excessive noise after 11 p.m., throwing objects from balconies and windows, making offensive gestures at passers-by and verbally abusing them. One report also alleged that some members of the group had climbed over fences and entered private properties belonging to Bansko residents.

The foreign nationals had arrived at the resort around two weeks earlier and were mostly minors, he added.

Regarding the August 2 incident, Parmakov said police received a report at around 11.30 p.m. of individuals threatening violence outside a hotel in the town. Officers were dispatched to the scene and established that no physical fight had taken place. Police identified all those involved, including Bulgarian nationals and Israeli citizens who were present.

The case materials have been forwarded to the Prosecution Service, which is examining all possible lines of inquiry. "According to preliminary findings, it can be assumed that the group staying at the hotel provoked passers-by by making offensive gestures and signs," Parmakov said. He added that the group of Bulgarians had walked past the hotel several times, with tensions escalating during one of those encounters.

The head of the district police department also said the hotel manager had filed a report estimating damage to the property at EUR 15,000.

Earlier on Wednesday, Bansko Mayor Stoycho Banenski said the police and municipal authorities had responded appropriately to the incident involving the Italian students.