The Roma neighbourhood of Zaharna Fabrika is currently being destroyed. The houses were deemed illegal. This occurred in spite of a ruling by the European Court of Human Right from April 11th asking for a delay until the ongoing law case is solved.
Shame.
Kiril Petkov, a former Bulgarian prime minister and candidate in the upcoming elections is defending the rights of a Mahala (a Roma neighbourhood) in Sofia. He is not alone in defending the “Zaharna Fabrika” which has who has called for manifestations in front of the parliament.
A toddler was murdered in Kula, Bulgaria, close to the Serbian border. The suspects are two Roma who fled the country shortly after the murder.
Reasons are not given.
The Alo.bg site is showcasing classified ads. Now, more and more Romnja are advertising their services as prostitutes in the Varna region.
This has prompted discussions: Some believe that this is a serious problem that should be investigated by the authorities, while others believe that the situation has been exaggerated. They believe that this is a form of exploitation and that such practices should be stopped and are demanding stricter control over online platforms.
Sceptics believe that this is part of a broader social problem and that the focus should not be only on the ethnicity of the women, but on the reasons that make them engage in such activity. “This is not a problem of just one community, but of the whole society. We need to work for integration and providing opportunities for everyone to prevent exploitation,” said one expert.
An article that totally misses the point. A project, that aims to “help” people with a different mother tongue (read Roma and Turks). What they miss is that Roma always grow up with several mother tongues, local and Romanes, and in the Balkan, Ottoman Turkish.
No further comments …
An unfinished apartment block, where Roma families have settled themselves and are raising their children there, continues to be a major problem according to the people of the neighbourhood. Residents have repeatedly filed reports that public order is being violated.
Now these issues in Humni Dol were discussed at a second working meeting between representatives of the local government as well as with Roma mediators. It is doubtful they will find solutions …
The leader of the MRF and the PG of “DPS – New Beginning” Delyan Peevski congratulated Roma for the Bango Vasil (or Vasilica), the old New Year according to the orthodox calendar, which is celebrated by all Roma in Bulgaria. He said: “I congratulate all Roma on the biggest Roma holiday Bango Vasil or also called Vasilitsa”. And he added: “Be healthy, be worthy Bulgarian citizens and know that you are not second-class people and I will continue to fight for a decent life for all people in Bulgaria. Believe in the new beginning and be confident that the best is yet to come! Happy Bango Vasil!”
Bulgarian Police and gendarmerie were stationed at the entrances of several settlements in the Sliven region. The Roma neighbourhood in Sliven was sealed by the police and a checkpoint set up in the Sliven “Nadezhda” neighbourhood. It was for a special operation aimed at combating drug trafficking and domestic crime. Public order was also being monitored on the eve of the Bango Vasil holiday which the article deems to be the Roma New Yea which is in fact the old new year according to the orthodox calendar.
A published Bulgarian textbook contains 99 Roma songs, collected from the territory of present-day Bulgaria between 1950 and 1975. Songs about love, family songs, songs about heroes have been preserved. The man who preserved this for generations is Mustafa Aliyev, better known by his Bulgarian name Manush Romanov. Mustafa Aliyev dedicated his life to the development of the culture of his community. He belonged to the group of Sofia “Jerli”
He participated in the anti-fascist resistance. He was the editor-in-chief of the newspapers “Romano Esi” (Romanian) and “Nevo Drom” (New Road). He was the director of the “Roma” theatre, which was closed by the communists.
The vlogger is the American Drew Goldberg, known by his online pseudonym Drew Binsky, with more that 5 mio followers visited the Stolipinovo Mahala in Plovdiv.
It is considered the largest in Bulgaria with over 40,000 Roma residents. To date, the problems in this district are many, the main ones being the problem with garbage, crime and drugs. Some people even describe the place as a “city within a city”.
Dimitrinka Georgieva, the principal of the “Lyuben Karavelov” school in the Varna Asparuhovo district in Bulgaria was awarded in the “Person of the Year” competition of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee in the Inspiration category.
There are 400 children at the “Lyuben Karavelov” school at the moment. Of these, 121 are children from Ukraine from preparatory classes to grade 11. Of the remaining less than 280 children, about 90 percent are students of Roma and Turkish origin, and the rest are Bulgarians.
Sounds like a segregated school …
Really weird Bulgarian news … A prisoner behind bars in Plovdiv posts a video on TikTok declaring his love for his girlfriend, rapping it in Romanes. Well, mobiles phones are officially not allowed in prisons in Bulgaria … Maybe only if you don’t pay the guards …
An outraged teacher sent an anonymous letter to Nova TV complaining that students are doing belly dances in the assembly hall of the “Vasil Levski” vocational high school in Ihtiman. The young people are drinking beer and dancing instead of being in class and studying. The teacher says he was shocked.
Again, there are suspicions about the voting patterns of several Roma villages and neighbourhoods in the region of Kyustendil, Bulgaria. Recounts are being started.
Residents of the Roam neighbourhood of Fakulteta in Sofia have been protesting against Kiril Kirov – known as Kiro the Japanese. The protestes claim that for years Kirov and his family have been harassing the residents of the neighbourhood, extorting them and forcing them to leave their homes, even to emigrate abroad. According to the protesters, the Japanese’s associates were distributing drugs in the neighbourhood, beating and even raping women.
An article in the Czech press about Bulgaria’s drive to form more doctors and medical staff from the Roma community. And it works …
A long article about young Roma studying medicine, health care, or dentistry. They are definitively needed as the Bulgarian health care system is suffering from a lack of personel.
The police searched the properties of Kiril Kirov, nicknamed the Japanese. The police presence in the capital’s “Faculty” Roma district was increased since early in the morning.
At this point, official information on the case is scarce. The Ministry of the Interior only confirms that there were searches. The reason for them, however, remains unclear. It’s not about drug crimes.
An article which states that “Roma neighbourhoods in Petrich, and the neighbourhoods in Bulgaria in general, are a huge prerequisite for a threat to national security, since the state institutions have abdicated long ago from the problems of the neighbourhoods, relying mainly on mediators, and this creates a situation in which we do not know what and how exactly happens there.”
It adds that “Illegal buildings and electricity, accompanied by Roma raids and beatings with axes, knives, stones and wooden sticks, as well as lack of any kind of responsibility and integration, are only a small part of the words that can describe the illegal life of the Roma neighborhoods in Petrich.”
Bad.
The Centre for Inter-Ethnic Dialogue and Tolerance “Amalipe” organizes the fourth National Roma Women’s Meeting “Girls with dreams – let’s be more than three!”, which was held on November 14-15, 2024 in Dryanovo.
The meeting was attended by women and girls from all over the country who are actively working to change the situation of Romnja. These are mostly female students, educational mediators, active girls and Romnja working to improve living and learning conditions in the Roma community.
EN 
DE 
FR