Discrimination against Roms in the Village of Oriahovica

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ORIAHOVICA, 30 August 2001 - At the end of August the residents of the village of Oriahovica, near Pleven, formed an action committee opposing the registration of Roma people as residents in the territory of the village.

In 1992 5 Roma families from the village of Podem came to live in Oriahovica after some Bulgarians from Podem set their houses on fire in the first case of ethnic cleansing after the onset of the democratic processes in Bulgaria. Since then a lot of other Roma families started coming to Oriahovica, as well as to many other Bulgarian villages. After the ultimatum of the residents of the village of Stejerovo for local Roma to leave the village the mayor of Oriahovica refused to register the new residents and the members of the action committee occupied the mayor's office to block the access of Roma people to it. Roma were threatened several times by local Bulgarians that their houses would be set on fire. On 20 August the residents of Oriahovica held a meeting with representatives of Dolna Mitropolia Municipality and the Chief of District Police Department - Dolna Mitropolia during which they insisted on expulsing of Roma families out of the village.

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