It was reported that after the riots, in the night, around 9 p.m. the police stormed into the three buildings, which are inhabited by asylum seekers predominantly from Afghanistan. They have beaten severely all men and teenage boys for two hours and broke doors, windows and other things. A 15 year old Afghani boy with a broken skull is in a very critical condition and a medically induced coma. He was already part of an escort accompanied by policemen, who tried to send him to the closed camp in Elhovo. After it was recognized, that he has serious problems, the teenager was first treated in a hospital in Yambol and afterwards transported to the the hospital in Stara Zagora. There an emergency operation was carried out.
Since two days, the health checks in Harmanli have started. The Bulgarian authorities have announced openly that new fences will be constructed around the camp. It was also announced that the former Transitcenter in Pastrogor will turn into a closed camp. Afghan habitants of the camps are blamed by the authorities that they have started the riot and bigger parts of the Bulgarian media propagated this.
It was stated by the State Agency for Refugees (SAR), that Afghans will be deported back to Afghanistan. For now, they are offered voluntary deportation, even if their cases are not decided, yet. 40 people already signed such a paper. If they do not want to, they are threatened to get imprisoned after they had to go in front of the court. After the first trials against the 18 people who were are arrested in Harmanli for rioting everybody of them (three of them underaged) will remain in custody.
Meanwhile there were statements made by the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) and the UNHCR: The UNHCR spokesman urged, that asylum seekers should not be deported on national security grounds or because of a protest. The BHC has called for an investigation of the events in the camp. Bordermonitoring Bulgaria (BMB) is sharing these two opinions. All closed centers and open centers are still overcrowded. As long as the conditions in the country are as bad as in Harmanli and elsewhere, Bulgaria will remain a Transit Country for migrants.