In the current Bulgarian elections, one party (SIK) claims that another one (GERB) voted instead of the Roma in a Roma neighbourhood in Shumen.
There were some information of potential sabotage of voting machines in some Roma neighbourhoods in Bulgaria. Several voters claim that the machine miscounted their vote.
Charles, at that time Prince of Wales, visited the Roma neighbourhood of Stolipinovo in Plovdiv in 1998. He was invited there by Roma and even attended a wedding.
New projects funded by the Council of Europe will be started in 2023 in Romania and Bulgaria.
Two Roma were murdered in Nova Zagora, Bulgaria, during a fight between two Roma groups. Three persons have now been arrested. This is bad, as it casts Roma as dangerous criminals, and this in a country where populism is on the rise.
The Bulgarian press seems obsessed by Roma weddings. This time, the story of a couple who have a restaurant in Plovdiv close to a Mahala – a Roma neighbourhood – and who complain about the noise from the celebrations in the Roma Mahala. They say they call the police regularly, to no avail.
A huge wedding gathered the eyes of passers-by on the capital’s Vitosha Boulevard this afternoon. About hundred wedding guests sang and danced to the sounds of an orchestra in the centre of Sofia. Foreign tourists were apparently amazed and took photographs of the celebration. Strolling residents of the capital spontaneously join the party, and so the guests, although uninvited, became hundreds.
Apparently dozens of calls to the police were made and the noise of the celebration echoed throughout the centre, but the police never responded or intervened.
An article about a fight involving pitchforks and axes between Roma in the Bulgarian city of Lom. As usual, this casts a bad light on Roma, and fails to mention the issues faced by Roma in theses Mahalas.
Plovdiv (Bulgaria) Residents of neighbourhoods bordering the Stolipinovo Mahala (Roma neighbourhood) are complaining about the noise resulting from weddings in the Mahala.
According to e recent study presented at a conference on the “State of Roma educational integration: from segregation to education in an ethnically mixed environment”, organized by the “Amalipe” center (link is external) on July 4 and 5 in Sofia, almost 1/2 of the schools in our country have a majority of children from vulnerable groups (so Roma and other minorities).
This amounts more and more to a form of segregation.
A well know Bulgarian TV presented was accused of racism for saying the illegal burials in Bulgaria are the work of “Roma”. He slipped even further saying he is using “To say ‘Roma’ is like saying a man or a woman”.
A reportage in the South Serbian town of Bosilegrad, a city that historically was part of Bulgaria and is predominantly still Bulgarian with a significant Roma population. Many of them do no longer want to be Bulgarians.
A few articles in the Balkan press on the celebrations of Erdelezi or Đurđevdan – simply Saint Georges day in the orthodox calendar – which fell on May 6th, and is celebrated by all Roma in the Balkans.
In Pleven, Bulgaria, Roma children will be included in sports clubs in football, tennis and basketball. The idea is to “socialise” children and students from ethnic minorities through sports, explained Ivaylo Lazarov, director of the Student Sports School (USS) in Pleven, which won funding for its project “To play sports together, albeit different”.
What this also implicitly says: Up till now, Roma children were not included … That says a lot.
Two Roma camps in the city of Burgas, Bulgaria, were destroyed by the authorities. The Roma apparently came from the region of Sliven and Yambol.
Bad publicity… The Plovdiv Police said that two Roma families were on trial. Then they quarrelled with each other outside. More than 20 people gathered and started shouting, and then a fight. One of the men pulled out a weapon and fired into the air. No one was injured.
The Roma Academy of Culture and Education (RAKO) in Sliven is proposing the establishment of a Bulgarian Roma Cultural Institute. The proposal was made by Stella Kostova from RACO at the conference “Support for the Vulnerable and Roma”, organized by BTA in Sliven within the initiative “Bulgarian Voices for Europe”.
In the middle of a debate, the extreme right Bulgarian MP Angel Dzhambazki, known for his anti Roma stance and inflammatory stretches his right arm in the air – and now has to reckon with sanctions.
He should be kicked out and prosecuted.
He claims, he did not do it …
Four young musicians from the Roma settlement of Nadezhda in Sliven will play in the Pierre Boulez Hall of the Paris Philharmonic on February 26. They are invited to take part in a classical concert of 120 young people from 27 countries as part of the DEMOS project of one of the largest philharmonics in the world, which provides a stage for children from social groups with difficult access to culture and education.
A recent study shows that the myth that Roma have many children is a myth. Natality rate as well as the abortion rate have gone down among Roma, and they now intend to have 2-3 Children. The study was conducted over the last ten years.
In fact, if you look at the Ottoman Tax register since the 15th century, Roma have made roughly 10% of the Bulgarian population, a number that has remained fairly constant. It implies they do not have many more children than the rest of the population.
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