site.btaUPDATED Tensions Rise as Protesters in Haskovo Demand Resignation of Interior Ministry's Regional Directorate Head, He Hands It

Tension arose during a protest in front of the Regional Police Station in Haskovo, where dozens of people gathered to demand the resignation of the head of the Interior Ministry's Regional Directorate, Ivan Rasokov, on Thursday. After the police officers dispersed the protesters late in the evening, Rasokov said he will hand his resignation after the Interior Minister has asked him to do so.

The reason for their discontent was the murder of an 18-year-old girl from the town, whose body was found in an uninhabited property on April 30 after she reported missing since April 26. A 17-year-old boy has been arrested for the case with a charge as the culprit. The protesters said the police had not taken sufficient action to trace the girl.

"I don not feel guilty, I have done my job, I have solved the murder. I said earlier today and I will do it - I will resign," Rasokov told the Bulgarian News Agency.

A contact group of protesters talked with the head of Haskovo Regional Police Station, Miroslav Hristov, in the police station building. When the protest representatives came out to the crowd again, people did not give them the floor to tell what they heard from the police, that the police did their job.  

Aggression ensued from mostly young people, some of them minors, who pelted the police station building with stones and broke some of the windows. Youths pulled down a part of the gutters of the building and dumped them in front of the entrance to the police station. There are litter bins strewn about and part of the building is covered in red paint. 

The police only took to the street when protesters started throwing firecrackers into the station's yard. Initially, an audible signal with a voice warning was issued to the protesters, who at that hour were mostly youths. The police dispersed the crowd and cordoned off the area at the rear of the control. Two people were taken to the district police station, however there is no official information about the arrests so far.