The Bulgarians did not cease their efforts to make Thessalonica seem like a city in anarchy or to make it appear that they were also in control. On the night of 31 October, only five days after the liberation, a group of Bulgarian irregulars blew up a big Turkish ammunition dump in the suburb of Zeitelik. As a result, some Turkish prisoners and a few Greek cavalry troopers were killed. Soon afterwards, the Bulgarian irregulars started lighting fires and slaughtering the Turkish non-combatants. The Cretan gendarmes attacked them and forced them to stop their actions and retreat to the Bulgarian army barracks to seek protection.
