An incident involving a TV crew from Bulgarias private national broadcaster bTV revealed the extent to which minors and adults are flouting stricter night-time restrictions on childrens behaviour.
On November 29, the bTV crew decided to check whether there were still minors left alone out on the streets after 8pm. The background for this was a November 27 Cabinet decision to introduce a ban on minors under the age of 14 from staying outside without the presence of an adult after 8pm. The decision stipulated that the curfew hour for teenagers between 14 and 18 would be 10pm.
The amendments to the Law on Child Protection stated the Governments ambitious plan to reduce the number of minors out late at night drinking alcohol, either on the streets or in nightclubs. The package of measures adopted on November 27 contained a raft of restrictions that, some questioned, could be beyond the remit of certain state-controlled bodies as well as parents and owners of shops and nightclubs to enforce. The amendments aim to specify and amend the responsibilities of all organisations and institutions involved in protecting children, the cabinet media statement said.
Children under the age of 12 would not be allowed to be left unsupervised if that presented a risk to their physical, mental and moral development, the statement said. It also stipulated the fines payable by parents who left their children unattended. These would vary between 300 and 5000 leva, depending on circumstances.
Furthermore, under the amendments, special protection for children in open spaces would be provided by the relevant by the authorities: the Interior Ministry, the directorate for social assistance, mayors, regional inspectorates of education, regional health offices and the owners, tenants and users of commercial facilities, cinemas and theatres, as well as organisers of public events. The amendments include prohibition of sales of alcohol and tobacco to minors with a doubling of fines to between 2000 and 4000 leva.
A similar proposal for the introduction of a curfew for minors was launched by the Education Ministry in October, following a public and media outcry over a documentary aired by bTV relating the undercover experiences of a documentary maker posing as a schoolteacher. As The Sofia Echo reported earlier, the documentary portrayed the rampant disillusionment, chronic apathy, thorough disregard for teachers and the education system, along with the drugs, violence, disrespect for anything and anyone, miserable pay, disenfranchised parents arrogant and abusive of the teachers and the system and the children, openly drinking alcohol, gambling, sexually groping one another, exposing themselves and using obscene language. In the wake of the documentarys airing, the Education Ministry said it would propose measures to improve school results, including a curfew for minors.
Sadly, one month later, another bTV story revealed no improvement and, if anything, a deterioration. The bTV crew approached two nightclubs near the National Palace of Culture (NDK) late on November 29. The journalists saw a number of obviously underage children, some of whom were buying alcohol from the nearby shop or drinking beer when leaving or entering nightclubs. When some of the children saw the TV camera they started shouting insults at the crew. Later, they started throwing objects. The shocking video showed groups of children, wearing scarfs to disguise themselves, thumping the crew, the TV camera and the bTV car. A reporter received a bloody mouth and a camera operator was also injured. The video showed not a single police officer in sight despite the central location of the nightclubs in question.
