A total of about 168 people were arrested in 14 Bulgarian cities on the night of September 27 2011 during the latest wave of protests following the Katounitsa incident.

There were scuffles between police and protesters, but no serious damage or other incidents, Bulgarian television stations Bulgarian National Television and bTV said. Those arrested were held for arriving at protests while carrying dangerous weapons. These reportedly included baseball bats, knives, vacuum cleaner pipes and meat tenderisers.

In a continuing pattern, some internet users sought to exploit social networks such as Facebook to aggravate the situation by spreading false allegations about ethnic clashes, seeking to provoke invasions of Roma neighbourhoods. The series of protests since September 24 have themselves been organised on the internet.

Prosecutor-General Boris Velchev has issued detailed instructions for strict action against racism and hate speech.

The series of protests began after a September 23 incident in the village of Katounitsa. After a dispute, the driver of a vehicle ran over and killed a young man and on the same day, a 16-year-old died of a heart attack. Because the driver was a Roma, allegedly linked to local kingpin Kiril "Tsar Kiro" Rashkov - a claim denied by Rashkov - the incident took on an ethnic dimension as far-right supporters seized on it and protests spread countrywide.

On September 24, a mob torched properties believed to belong to Rashkov. Rashkov and relatives went into hiding, although he kept in touch with the media, giving print and television interviews by mobile phone. Authorities confirmed that he and others had been subject to investigation for alleged tax evasion, before the Katounitsa incident. On September 28, Interior Ministry chief secretary Kalin Georgiev told television station Nova Televisia that Rashkov had been arrested the previous day for allegedly issuing death threats.

Mainstream political leaders including President Georgi Purvanov and Prime Minister Boiko Borissov have appealed for the Katounitsa incident to be seen not as an ethnic clash and have called for calm, with a warning that the state will act firmly against racism and incitement to violence.

On September 27, the acting mayor of Varna banned protests. About 400 people gathered in the city, the largest on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, and police moved in to prevent the protest. A reported 50 people were arrested.

In all, an estimated 2200 people turned out for the protests, the largest being crowds of about 600 each in Sofia and in Plovdiv.

According to bTV, one of the arrests was for incitement to racial hatred.

People in the Roma neighbourhoods of Dimitrovgrad armed themselves and went to sleep outdoors for fear of being attacked, bTV said. In Roma neighbourhoods elsewhere, people armed themselves with axes after rumours that gangs were on their way to attack them. These rumours were false.

Previously, Bulgaria's authorities ordered a strong police presence to protect Roma neighbourhoods and contacted community leaders to appeal for calm.

Also continuing a pattern found in protests on previous days, those arrested included under-18s, 10 in Varna. Authorities have appealed to parents to speak to their children to explain to them not to involve themselves in the situation.

Television pictures from the various cities showed many protesters wrapping themselves in Bulgarian flags and shouting patriotic and anti-Roma slogans.

BNT's weekly debate programme Referendum on September 27 ended with a vote among participants in various cities, towns and villages almost evenly split between those who saw what happened in Katounitsa as an ethnic or a criminal incident.