Tensions had been brewing among the thousands of migrants and refugees housed at the Harmanli migrant camp, close to Bulgaria's border with Turkey.
There has been widespread concern about conditions at the centre.
And when it was quarantined last week over claims of an infectious skin-disease plague, residents tried to break out.
Security forces used rubber bullets and water cannon to quell the uprising.
And Bulgarian prime minister Boiko Borissov has promised there will be consequences for those who incited violence.
"We have everything filmed and all these acts of vandalism committed. All migrants who took part will be charged. The way out of this situation is, at first, to stop the war and allow these people to have a place to where they might be extradited. We ordered a plane to Afghanistan for December to begin this extradition. Let's see if they will be welcomed there."
But there is dispute about what actually led to the trouble in the camp.
The editor-in-chief of the Sofia Globe newspaper in the capital, Clive Liviev-Sawyer, says claims about the state of the camp are clouded by local residents' opposition to the camp itself.
"You know, on one level, there've been all these statements from officialdom about the fact that the skin diseases are a problem. On another level, the person who's the head of the state agency for refugees, a person called Petya Parvanova, went down there and said, 'Look, you know, these skin diseases are not actually contagious. They're not a real reason to shut down this camp and shut down the access to the outside world.' Her basic thesis was that it's the residents of the town who don't like the refugees, don't like migrants being there."
Mr Liviev-Sawyer says the refugees and migrants do not want to stay in the country either.
"Bulgaria is not really a country for refugees to come to. It's a country for refugees to pass through on their way to the Serbian border and then on to Western Europe, which they would find very sufficient -- to France, to Germany, where they can possibly earn more money, have a better life."
Boiko Borissov has urged the public to be careful in reacting to the unrest, fearful his country could become a terrorist target.
"Because Islamic State networks monitor us very carefully through Facebook and whatever comes out in the media. Usually, the places where violent clashes arise always become a target for terrorist acts."
As Europe continues to grapple with the migrant and refugee crisis, Bulgaria's interior minister has met with his Turkish and Greek counterparts.
They met at the opening of a new border refugee-coordination centre, where Turkey's Suleyman Soylu insisted his country is doing all it can.
"Turkey has wholly fulfilled its obligations in conjunction with the agreement we have come to with the European Union. Our friends and neighbours Greece and Bulgaria have witnessed this."
But beyond the political talk, the tragic stories continue to unfold.
A teenage Afghan boy has reportedly frozen to death on the Bulgarian-Serbian border.
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