Afghan Minors Rejected by Bulgarian Village Also Expelled from Elsewhere

Two Afghans who arrived in Bulgaria as accompanied minors but were refused accommodation in the village of Shiroka Laka, were subsequently turned down from other places, media reports suggest.

The two boys, aged under 18, were to move into a care home in Shiroka Laka, a village in Southern Bulgaria, but some locals voiced concerns they might commit crimes.

Authorities later decided to relocated them to Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second-largest city, where they were rejected once again, news website Dnevnik.bg reports after an inquiry.

The subsequent location was Haskovo, but the boys were denied again the right to stay.

Dnevnik.mk cites its own sources who say that Haskovo officials have been threatened by the head of the local social assistance agency they would be fired if a decision was taken to move the two Afghan minors there.

One of the boys was then moved to the capital Sofia - after having already spent some time at the Voenna Rampa accommodation center in a remote Sofia neighborhood - but can only stay at its current location until Friday.

The other was accommodated in a care home in Svilengrad in southern Bulgaria, but fled the home.

Authorities say it is the social assistance agency's duty to provide accommodation for unaccompanied minors when parents or relatives cannot be found.

The latest developments follow this week's tensions in the town of Elin Pelin about Syrian nationals who were granted humanitarian status but are turned down by local authorities, who say residents do not want them there.

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