Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov urged Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov to take a firm stance on the violence by some police officers at the protest by football fans on November 16. Premier Denkov said that his subsequent actions towards Minister Stoyanov would depend on the minister's attitude towards violence.

"If the minister does not recognise these cases as violence that deserves an extremely serious sanction, I will resign... I cannot accept being prime minister in a government that beats people in the streets", Premier Denkov said.

He called on Parliament to form a committee of inquiry to clarify the cases of police violence of November 16, why it happened and how to prevent similar incidents in the future.

"If the Minister of the Interior resigns, the Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov must also go. The minister is a political figure. He should be held accountable not for the training of the policemen, but for Schengen, for the protection of the border", GERB leader Boyko Borissov said earlier today. He denied the widespread reports that the Minister of Interior was an appointment of GERB. According to Boyko Borissov, the Interior Minister is neutral. 

• Unprecedented clashes between police and protesting football fans in Sofia