The latest mass fight in the gypsy neighborhood in Asenovgrad, in which, according to the Ministry of Interior, hundreds of people participated, there were injured citizens and an injured police officer, is neither a coincidence nor an isolated incident. This is yet another proof that the state continues to pay the price for years of inaction, political hypocrisy and the refusal to take real measures to deal with ghettoization and lawlessness.
This is what the leader of VMRO Krasimir Karakachanov wrote in his Facebook post. He also reminds: " Years ago, in my capacity as Deputy Prime Minister, I proposed the so-called Concept for Changes in the Policy for the Integration of Unsocialized Communities. The document envisaged specific measures against impunity, illegal construction, abuses of the social system, children dropping out of school, crime and lack of work engagement.
The concept set a clear rule - everyone has rights, but also obligations to the state and society. At that time, an avalanche of criticism poured on the document - from political parties, non-governmental organizations and various "human rights defenders". They declared it "discriminatory", instead of acknowledging the obvious - that without order, legality and equal rules for everyone, there can be no integration. Today, these same people are silent. They are silent when entire neighborhoods are turned into territories into which the state enters with hundreds of police officers. They are silent when law enforcement agencies are attacked. They remain silent when ordinary people live in fear, and the law obviously does not apply equally to everyone, the leader of VMRO also recalls.
He is categorical that the truth is simple - the problem has never been ethnic. The problem is in impunity. In parallel rules. In the decades of political negligence, during which different governments preferred to buy peace with compromises instead of enforcing the law.
We from VMRO - Bulgarian National Movement warned about this years ago. If the measures proposed then had been adopted and consistently implemented, today we would not be witnessing such scenes that undermine the authority of the state and put the lives of both citizens and police officers at risk.
The state cannot capitulate to aggression. The law must apply to everyone - regardless of ethnicity, origin or social status. Anyone who violates public order, uses violence or attacks a police officer must bear the full force of the law.
It is time for politicians to stop being afraid of accusations of “impropriety“ and to start protecting the public interest. Bulgarian citizens expect security, justice and a state that does not compromise with the law, concludes Krasimir Karakachanov.