Roma's isolation in Bulgaria - fertile grounds for tension
By Elena Lalova, dpa
Sofia (dpa) - Violence targeting Roma and committed by Roma is not unusual in Bulgaria. But the recent explosion of violent hatred in a quarter in the capital Sofia has gone far beyond the ordinary and finally raised the question about the cause of the problem.
Over two nights last week, hundreds of Gypsy men went on a rampage in the Krasna Polyana part of the capital. Waving knives, axes and poles and screaming "death to Bulgarians," the mob torched dust bins, damaged cars and demolished a shop.
Only a massive deployment of special police prevented anyone from getting killed. The media and politicians have since been speculating as to what caused the outbreak.
The Roma say that they wanted to protect themselves from the violently chauvinist, skinhead gangs who go about beating up and molesting the Gypsies on a regular basis.
So, in preventive retaliation, four Gypsies attacked a bald-headed man in a pub and three of his colleague. However, he turned out not a skinhead, but a well-armed employee of a security firm. It may be the fear and frustration of the foiled attackers which sparked the subsequent violence.
Frightened by what it saw, the public has been pressing the authorities for action. Interior Minister Rumen Petkov has promised the "full power of the law" against those responsible for the riot and discussed the issue with President Georgi Parvanov.
Some speculate that trouble was a result of "political interests" and aimed to "liven things up" ahead of municipal polls. That train of thought leads to the conclusion that Gypsies actually rioted to push up the price of their votes in the elections.
In Bulgaria, it is a public secret that the political parties effectively buy the Gypsy votes.
"The Roma vote is an expensive item," said Antonina Zhelyaskova, the head of the Sofia-based Minorities Research Centre.
Of the 7.6 million Bulgarians, some 650,000 are Roma, the centre estimates. Among them, the unemployment rate is a whopping 71 per cent and two-thirds of them survive on less than 100 leva (60 dollars) monthly. Some 68 per cent never achieve basic schooling.
"There are parallel worlds here," Zhelyaskova said, referring to the absence of communication between the mainstream and the Gypsy community.
"That is fertile grounds for tension," she said, adding that relations have "significantly worsened," even as one-fourth of the period declared as the "Decade of Roma Integration" has passed.
Pressed by the European Union, which it joined on January 1, Bulgaria has launched a series of projects aimed to improve the integration of the Roma.
It will however take much more to eliminate the deeply-rooted prejudice, Zhelyakova warned. In some cases, the effort has backfired, drawing sour complaints from Slavic Bulgarians that the Gypsies felt themselves to be "above the law."
In a reaction, a nationalist "Volunteer Guard" has been set up in three cities. The fledgling organization so far has only around 35 "troops" in Sofia and branches in the second-largest city of Plovdiv as well as in Jambol and Veliko Tarnovo.
The declared goal of the group, dressed in uniforms that not by coincidence are reminiscent of the Hitler Youth of Nazi Germany, is to "protect the life, property and families of citizens ... from the terror of Gypsies."
Sofia (dpa) - Violence targeting Roma and committed by Roma is not unusual in Bulgaria. But the recent explosion of violent hatred in a quarter in the capital Sofia has gone far beyond the ordinary and finally raised the question about the cause of the problem.
Over two nights last week, hundreds of Gypsy men went on a rampage in the Krasna Polyana part of the capital. Waving knives, axes and poles and screaming "death to Bulgarians," the mob torched dust bins, damaged cars and demolished a shop.
Only a massive deployment of special police prevented anyone from getting killed. The media and politicians have since been speculating as to what caused the outbreak.
The Roma say that they wanted to protect themselves from the violently chauvinist, skinhead gangs who go about beating up and molesting the Gypsies on a regular basis.
So, in preventive retaliation, four Gypsies attacked a bald-headed man in a pub and three of his colleague. However, he turned out not a skinhead, but a well-armed employee of a security firm. It may be the fear and frustration of the foiled attackers which sparked the subsequent violence.
Frightened by what it saw, the public has been pressing the authorities for action. Interior Minister Rumen Petkov has promised the "full power of the law" against those responsible for the riot and discussed the issue with President Georgi Parvanov.
Some speculate that trouble was a result of "political interests" and aimed to "liven things up" ahead of municipal polls. That train of thought leads to the conclusion that Gypsies actually rioted to push up the price of their votes in the elections.
In Bulgaria, it is a public secret that the political parties effectively buy the Gypsy votes.
"The Roma vote is an expensive item," said Antonina Zhelyaskova, the head of the Sofia-based Minorities Research Centre.
Of the 7.6 million Bulgarians, some 650,000 are Roma, the centre estimates. Among them, the unemployment rate is a whopping 71 per cent and two-thirds of them survive on less than 100 leva (60 dollars) monthly. Some 68 per cent never achieve basic schooling.
"There are parallel worlds here," Zhelyaskova said, referring to the absence of communication between the mainstream and the Gypsy community.
"That is fertile grounds for tension," she said, adding that relations have "significantly worsened," even as one-fourth of the period declared as the "Decade of Roma Integration" has passed.
Pressed by the European Union, which it joined on January 1, Bulgaria has launched a series of projects aimed to improve the integration of the Roma.
It will however take much more to eliminate the deeply-rooted prejudice, Zhelyakova warned. In some cases, the effort has backfired, drawing sour complaints from Slavic Bulgarians that the Gypsies felt themselves to be "above the law."
In a reaction, a nationalist "Volunteer Guard" has been set up in three cities. The fledgling organization so far has only around 35 "troops" in Sofia and branches in the second-largest city of Plovdiv as well as in Jambol and Veliko Tarnovo.
The declared goal of the group, dressed in uniforms that not by coincidence are reminiscent of the Hitler Youth of Nazi Germany, is to "protect the life, property and families of citizens ... from the terror of Gypsies."
Labels: Bulgaria, Gypsy, Gypsy Violence, Roma, Sofia
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