Bulgaria: Protest Against Neo-Nazi Violence  · Global Voices
Ruslan Trad

On June 6, 2010, a protest was held in Sofia in support of the rights of refugees and immigrants in Bulgaria. It was organized by Svetla Encheva and other activists, supporting immigrant rights. The protest was held in front of the “Busmantzi” refugee camp.
Shortly before the start of the protest, a group of skinheads attacked several people inside a tram on the way to the event. The police are still investigating the event and have over 20 suspects.
My Facebook inbox with message about protest
On June 10, a second gathering was organized, in which activists protested against neo-Nazism and the attacks on peaceful citizens. The event started from Facebook, where users exchanged personal messages with the time and place of the gathering.
(c) Georgi Ivanov
Soon after 6 PM traffic in Sofia was blocked with chants “Nazis in jail”, “Fascism is not an opinion, it's a crime“, “We won't forgive, we won't forget“ and posters “Apathy kills“, „Enough racism“.
Lidia Stoykova wrote the following about the protest on her blog[BG]:
[…] Regardless of the protest, there are young people in this country who define themselves in different ways and assault darker-skinned compatriots and foreigners, as well as other people who look to them like homosexuals. I would easily define these young men as Nazis and fascists. […]
[…] I consider the presence of such individuals a serious problem and I've spent a lot of time talking about the resurgence of fascism in our country, but insofar as this problem is linked to the refugees, whose cause we support, I think we now have to focus mainly on that cause. Because it's not popular enough, and that's because we don't talk about it enough.[…]
Borislav Borissov wrote this[BG] on his blog:
The most important thing that happened 20 years later was the protest on Patriarch Evtimy Square against the ever more frequent activities of Nazi, fascist, ultranationalist, racist, xenophobic and other similar groups, formations, movements and common street gangs. It's good that there were people who grew up during that period of transition which continued a decade after its end. There's a strange belief within the blogosphere that these fascist and Nazi outbursts are something new.
In her article, blogger Selene writes [BG]:
“Nazism is not an opinion, it's a crime.”
[…]
It's hard for one to imagine that in the 21st century Bulgaria could become the scene of violence, inspired by ideas from the beginning of the 20th century. Ideas, which led to a World War, to genocide, concentration camps, cruelty and death in immense proportions.
In the blog of Svetla Encheva, a threat was received[BG]:
The beating you got was not enough!
It's not clear who wrote this anonymous comment.