Bulgarian Nationalists Alert to 'Gypsy Crime' through Provocative Brochure

Crime | September 27, 2011, Tuesday // 21:00
Bulgaria: Bulgarian Nationalists Alert to 'Gypsy Crime' through Provocative Brochure Ataka leader Volen Siderov could not be reached for comment on the controversial hate-inciting materials distributed by the nationalist party. Photo by BGNES

Four days after the clashes in the village of Katunitsa, Bulgarian nationalist party Ataka started distributing brochures titled "Gypsy Crime - a Threat to the State" accompanied by leaflets drumming up support for Ataka's leader and presidential candidate Volen Siderov.

The 28-page black-and-white booklet contains publications and speeches of Siderov from 2006 til present in which he dwells on the "Gypsisation" of Bulgaria and on gypsy crime, according to a report of Capital weekly.

It also includes selective excerpts from media reports about grave offences committed by Roma people put together with the purpose of inciting ethnic hatred.

A group of journalists from the business weekly have notified the Chief Prosecutor and the administrative head of the the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office about the brochures circulating in Sofia subway stations.

Earlier Tuesday, Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev instructed all prosecutor's offices in the country, as well as policemen guarding mass gatherings, to arrest on the spot persons inciting racial and ethnic hatred, to open instant proceedings and give such cases priority treatment.

When asked to comment, Ataka's press office said that the brochure had been inspired by the events in Katunitsa and the clippings used were from the Ataka newspaper and from political speeches of their leader.

After a 19-year-old Bulgarian boy was supposedly murdered by a member of notorious crime boss Kiril Rashkov's Roma clan in the southern village of Katunitsa near Plovdiv on Friday, protests loomed in the village and subsequently spread across the country.

The incident culminated Saturday night in an attack on Rashkov's properties, allegedly staged by several hundred football hooligans.

More than 100 people in total were arrested by the police in a number of Bulgarian cities after a wave of small-scale but vigorous rallies Monday night.

The protesters rallied against Angel Petrov's murder by a Roma clan member, but also because of the "Roma issue", i.e. what they see as a "privileged situation" of the Roma minority in Bulgaria.

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Tags: Volen Siderov, Ataka, Katunitsa, Roma, ethnic clashes, ethnic tensions, Tsar Kiro, Plovdiv, Boris Velchev, hate crime, Kiril Rashkov

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