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Sat, May 26 2012
Interior Minister: There is no ethnic tension in Sofia
Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetanov
Photo: Georgi Kozhouharov
There is no ethnic tension in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said after a violent incident in the capital involving Roma youths and a Bulgarian in Sofia, local news agency Focus said.
According to Tsvetanov, the authorities are doing everything possible in order to establish and maintain security for citizens . "If we talk about ethnic tension, this could spark nationalistic sentiments," he said.
Any problems concerning the Roma in their boroughs are essentially a part of a more complex and widespread problem. This could be solved by reducing unemployment, providing education as well as other factors that will serve to improve the social and economic status of the people living there, Tsvetanov said.
On July 12, a group of Roma youths seriously assaulted a middle-aged Bulgarian man in a Sofia bus because the man had asked them to stop smoking in the vehicle.
At about 11pm, a group of young men, all of them Roma, boarded the 309 bus which runs from Stochna Gara to the borough of Lyulin. The group then lit cigarettes and started smoking in the bus, when Goran Tornyov asked them to stop.
The group then assaulted him, eyewitnesses said. To protect himself, the man pulled out his service issue sidearm and fired into the vehicle's ceiling. After that the Roma ran away from the bus, although some wanted to drag Tomyov out of the bus.
Reportedly, a police patrol apprehended all the Roma involved in the attack some time later.
According to Tsvetanov, the authorities are doing everything possible in order to establish and maintain security for citizens . "If we talk about ethnic tension, this could spark nationalistic sentiments," he said.
Any problems concerning the Roma in their boroughs are essentially a part of a more complex and widespread problem. This could be solved by reducing unemployment, providing education as well as other factors that will serve to improve the social and economic status of the people living there, Tsvetanov said.
On July 12, a group of Roma youths seriously assaulted a middle-aged Bulgarian man in a Sofia bus because the man had asked them to stop smoking in the vehicle.
At about 11pm, a group of young men, all of them Roma, boarded the 309 bus which runs from Stochna Gara to the borough of Lyulin. The group then lit cigarettes and started smoking in the bus, when Goran Tornyov asked them to stop.
The group then assaulted him, eyewitnesses said. To protect himself, the man pulled out his service issue sidearm and fired into the vehicle's ceiling. After that the Roma ran away from the bus, although some wanted to drag Tomyov out of the bus.
Reportedly, a police patrol apprehended all the Roma involved in the attack some time later.
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ZAW - go soak your head in cold water, mate.
I am a foreign national with long term residency in Bulgaria and I have observed the following. The Roma community is a very tight knit family based one and, offend one and you risk offending all. I have had it said that they are tolerated in villages sometimes because the Mayor needs their votes. I have also had it said that they get a, not inconsiderable, sum of money for each child, if this is so, because most have no real work, the ethnic group will continue to grow because babies mean cash. Solution, quite simple, limit payments to first [...]
Read the full comment 2 or 3 children. Due to many crimes actually not being recorded by local police teams the ACTUAL problem is never hi-lighted accurately and often one is told by the police, "we have no record of this sort of problem previously" when it is common knowledge that several incidents had occurred previously. The words that come out of the ministers own mouth perhaps tells the real truth, he said "if we talk about ethnic tensions this could spark nationalistic sentiments" so, although not actually saying it he is acknowledging there is a problem. The sort of crime and incidents (and I know of many in our region alone) that causes concern among normal, law abiding citizens, should be properly investigated by the police and recorded, the records should be monitored nationally and then the picture will become clearer and, with that, so may the solution.
Every Country has different ethnicities, due to cultural difference and issues there is always a flare up, seriously this is not one of them, this is a minor incidence and nothing to do with ethnicity. This can be regarded as a crime against human not against Roma. Smoking is banned in buses it needs to be implimented, the guy had no right to pull his weapon and fire.
Well said vv but I think that any help will be a waste of time its been tried before and failed,you cannot educate the Roma or get them to take on a permanent job. I think the decent hardworking people of Sofia and indeed the rest of the population of Bulgaria have a right to be angry with a no win situation.
Denying the problem and lie about them and to say "There is no ethnic tension in Sofia" will not solve any problems. Ordinary people are getting angry and the situation worsens.
problems of roma, don;t have kids at age 15 and learn to read and write! that's a good start!
hate crime!!