България: Роми се възпротивяват на разрушаването на домовете им

Unrest broke out after the demolition of dwellings the government deemed to be "illegal," in a Roma residential area in Varna's Maksuda neighbourhood, Thursday morning. According to the local Municipal Council, Roma residents who built more than sixty small houses and other buildings had been warned about the demolition since 2014. Army, police, ambulances, fire-brigades and other officials were involved in the demolition. Many of the residents of the settlement tried to stop the demolition. One of the residents tried to set himself on fire as an act of protest against the Municipal authorities. Others tried to set houses on fire, while many others simply refused to take their belongings out of their houses and stood on top of them as the demolition gear approached. The families who will be made homeless as a consequence of the demolition will reportedly be put into social housing, according to Hristo Hristov, the mayor of the local area. However, there is a discrepancy in regards to the numbers of people living in the locality. Hristov said in an interview with website Dnevnik.bg that there were no more than 50-60 people living in the settlement. However, according to the Department of Civil Registration and Administrative Services (GRAO), 520 people live in dwelling, 200 of whom are children. Roma NGOs have already approached the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg by lodging more than 18 objections against the demolition orders.