Hotel security assault TV crew reporting on security measures at Sunny Beach hotel
A reporting team from public broadcaster Bulgarian National Television (BNT), covering security measures at hotels in Sunny Beach after the terrorist attack on Israeli tourists, was assaulted by security staff at one of the hotel’s resorts while a policeman looked on.
Reporter Ivo Nikodimov and cameraman Vasko Yotov were outside the hotel when the incident happened.
A report by BNT showed a security guard emerging and, when Nikodimov attempted to speak to him, hitting the microphone away.
A police officer asked to see the journalists’ accreditation and questioned Nikodimov as to why they were filming there.
When the BNT team moved away to an adjoining pavement, the security guard returned with another guard. The footage showed Nikodimov being struck and pushed, at one point shouting to Yotov, who was continuing to film in spite of a hand being placed over his lens, “film them hitting me”. Off-camera, a voice is heard saying, “don’t let him film”.
Nikodimov asked the policeman why he was doing nothing while the BNT team were being assaulted. The policeman, moving away, replied: “no comment”.
“The guards care more about who is filming than about who is threatening the security of guests,” Nikodimov said in a to-camera report, adding that the incident showed that the “mutra era” of security guards’ behaviour at Sunny Beach hotels had not passed.
(Photo: Vassia Atanassova)
