(ANSA) - TRIESTE - A video showing the act of 'arrest' of migrants by a squad of civil volunteers is causing contrasting reactions by the public opinion and Bulgarian institutions. Published two days ago, the video shows three migrants, of probable Afghan origin, lying on the ground with arms tied on their backs. In the comment below it is stated - "the detention of migrants and return to Turkey - no 112, no police traitors, we are acting on our own!". For the prosecutors of the town of Malko Tarnovo, in the Burgas region near the Turkish border, this is an act of illegal detention, punishable with up to six years of jail according to the national laws. The Minister of interior affairs, Rumyana Bachvarova, also criticised the video, by writing on her Facebook page that the authorities now had to pay attention "not only to those who try to cross the border illegally, but also to those who want to take advantage of the migrants - for money, or for cheap, and dangerous, fame".

The Novinite portal refers that the episode has resulted in a change of rhetoric by the authorities regarding the voluntary patrols along the border, a recent phenomenon, initially supported both by the Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and by the border police. (ANSA).