Roma Protesters End Railroad Blockade in Sofia

The protest was held to show support for the Roma inhabitants of a neighborhood in the town of Stara Zagora whose houses were pulled down earlier in July. Photo by BGNES

A Roma protest action that halted train traffic along the railroad linking Sofia with the nearby town of Pernik on Tuesday morning has ended.

The protest was held in support of the Roma inhabitants of the Lozenets neighborhood in the town of Stara Zagora, whose houses had been demolished by the authorities earlier this month due to the lack of proper construction documents.

According to the TV7 channel, the Roma protesters that had blocked traffic by standing on the rail tracks in Sofia's neighborhood of Fakulteta had gone home after the district mayor said the municipal authorities would help them sort out problems arising from the lack of proper documentation for their dwellings.

The protesters blocked the railroad for about two hours until 11 a.m. local time, prompting the state-run Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) company to cancel or reroute four domestic passenger trains, BDZ said in a statement.

International traffic on the railroad that also links Sofia with Bulgaria’s border with Greece was not affected.

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