At a briefing in the Council of Ministers, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov called for an inquiry commission in the National Assembly to investigate the police violence during the November 16 protest in Sofia against the leadership of the Bulgarian Football Union, reported a Novini.bg reporter.
If the minister (of Internal Affairs Kalin Stoyanov – b. ed.) this as violence that deserves an extremely severe sanction, including clarifying why this happens periodically in the police force and how we eliminate it, yes, I will resign. It is absolutely unacceptable that this happens every time. It should come out publicly and strongly condemn all forms of police violence. There should be an investigation into all these cases. There must be adequate penalties. Adequate does not mean a remark, said Denkov.
The huge number of policemen guarded the protest in a way that could serve as an example, but those who used batons and beat people who fell down without reason have no place in the ranks of the police. These policemen stain the police and have no place there, the prime minister pointed out.
I cannot accept being prime minister in a government that beats people in the streets – the way it used to happen. Among some people in the police there is a culture that considers it normal to beat defenseless people, children, women with batons. This is absolutely unacceptable. My attitude towards the minister will depend on his attitude towards violence. I want both the interior minister and the politicians who defend him to say whether they defend this position or not. If the minister comes out and says the things I am saying, there is action and these policemen leave, I will have no problem with him. I will have a problem with him if he continues to obscure the situation, emphasized Denkov. He announced that he had already discussed the topic with Deputy Prime Minister Maria Gabriel.
All such actions must be checked and punished. We need to purge the structures of the National Police of the feeling that this is acceptable. People who think it’s normal should get out of there. Clearly there is a systemic problem here and this problem needs to be addressed. But there is no way to solve it if the minister underestimates this problem. I want to hear what he thinks about the matter, but so far I have not heard him, noted the Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Denkov announced a grace period for the paper prescription
The Prime Minister informed that there is no new appointed Deputy Minister of the Interior. According to him, his release was not a planned step, but after what happened, he had to take responsibility. Regarding the five policemen from the protest who are being investigated for violence against citizens, Denkov said that all those who participated in this type of action should be exposed and punished. “But checks have been done in the past, and if they end up with the girl being to blame, as there was such information in the past, they are not doing any work,” said the prime minister. According to him, people who consider violence against civilians to be normal should leave the Ministry of the Interior. There should be training to show how far force can be used and where it can’t be used. Obviously, there is a systemic problem and it must be solved, Denkov said. And there is no way for him to make up his mind if the minister underestimates him. I definitely want to hear his opinion about what happened, I haven’t heard it yet, Nikolay Denkov said.
In response to a question whose minister is Kalin Stoyanov – of GERB – SDS or of “We continue the change – Democratic Bulgaria”, Denkov said that he will comment on this topic since he is not in this post.
Nikolay Denkov summarized the results of today’s regular meeting on measures to combat aggression and violence in the Council of Ministers and assured that in the last five months he has achieved significant progress on a number of activities related to the topic.
One is related to the creation for the first time of a National Council for Prevention and Protection from Domestic Violence. The second progress is that for the first time a structure has been created in the Ministry of Internal Affairs to support victims of domestic violence. There, employees are trained to be able to help people. Third – for the first time, a memorandum of cooperation between the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Legal Aid Office was signed at the national level, which allows every victim of violence to receive free legal aid. Two more new crisis centers have been created, so we currently have a total of 31 centers with 348 places to accommodate women and children who have suffered from domestic violence. Currently, 17 projects coordinated by the Ministry of Justice are being implemented, Denkov pointed out.
2023-11-20 14:36:34
#Denkov #threatened #resign #police #violence #Politics #News
