Tensions in the Pleven region escalated today after dozens of residents of the village of Bukovlak gathered for an organized protest against a local nightclub.
The dissatisfied citizens openly accuse a well-known Pleven disco of systematic harassment, mistreatment and manifest discrimination against the youth of the village.
According to the officially presented information by the participants in the demonstration, young people from Bukovlak were regularly prevented from entering the facility by security without any adequate explanations. The protesters added that in cases where they were allowed into the establishment, they became direct targets of verbal pressure and even physical violence, exercised by security guards or specific groups of customers.
NOVA reported that at the forefront of the discontent was the popular and successful Bulgarian boxer Yosif Panov - the Cinderella, who is a native of the settlement. The athlete categorically defined what was happening as unacceptable and called for an immediate stop to the harassment of his fellow citizens, friends and relatives, insisting on equality.
The main demands of the gathered crowd are aimed at urgent intervention by the Ministry of Interior, law enforcement agencies and the prosecutor's office. Locals are demanding a full and detailed investigation into the cases of violence in order to prevent a more serious escalation of social and ethnic tensions throughout the Pleven region.