Hundreds of far-right extremists marched through the centre of Sofia on Saturday to honour a Bulgarian general who led a pro-Nazi organisation in the 1930s and 1940s.
Hundreds of Bulgarian nationalists marched in Sofia in an annual celebration of World War II general Hristo Lukov, a Nazi collaborator.
The city government was unsuccessful in its attempt to stop the demonstration.https://t.co/HjuwS7YhlL pic.twitter.com/VDhTiZZ64U
— dwnews (@dwnews) February 18, 2018
The march, which has raised concern about the rise of the right wing in the Balkan state, went ahead despite international condemnation.
It included a torchlight procession by youths in dark clothing and the laying of wreaths at the former home of General Hristo Lukov, a leader of the pro-Nazi Union of Bulgarian Legions in the 1930s and 1940s.
A counter-march took place simultaneously.
Reuters wrote that the pro-Nazi procession casts a shadow on the government efforts to present the ex-communist Balkan state, which joined the EU in 2007, as a progressive and open-minded country at a time when Bulgaria holds the bloc’s rotating presidency.
The government, the country’s largest political parties and several Jewish organisations including the World Jewish Congress all called for the march to be suspended, while an international petition against it gathered more than 178,000 signatures.
The US embassy in Sofia said in a statement that it was “saddened and troubled to see the display of intolerance represented by the Lukov March”.
“General Hristo Lukov was a Nazi supporter who promoted hate and injustice, and is not someone deserving of veneration,” the embassy said.
Far-right groups from several European countries, including Germany, Sweden, Hungary and Estonia joined the marchers, calling themselves Bulgarian nationalists and describing Lukov as a “Bulgarian war hero”.
The ministry of foreign affairs published today (18 February) an unprecedented statement, condemning what it called “a demonstration of xenophobia, discrimination and hatred”.
This manifestation of intolerance against the others takes place less than a month after the whole world pay tribute to the Holocaust victims. The last night’s march gathered in Bulgaria, which is now President of the Council of the European Union, people from different nationalities who came here to demonstrate hatred and intolerance. This should be a clear signal for us as a society and as Europeans who have not forgotten the suffering caused by the Second World War that it is not just enough to recall the tragic events. Every act of hatred and glorification of the anti-Semitic and Nazi ideology is absolutely unacceptable.”
The statement confirms the style of the Boyko Borissov administration of distancing itself from actions or statements of which it should be responsible. Recently the government published a statement, in which it disassociates itself with scandalous attacks of deputy prime minister Valery Simeonov against the co-President of the Green/EFA group in t he European Parliament Ska Keller.
Bulgarian nationalists go ballistic over ‘green Jihadist Ska Keller’
Far-right extremists and neo-Nazis from across Europe are gathering in #Sofia, #Bulgaria, as they prepare to march in honor of Nazi-collaborator Hristo #Lukov. It is unfathomable that this can happen 75 years after WWII. pic.twitter.com/HopexcFSrs
— (((WJC))) (@WorldJewishCong) February 17, 2018
Hristo #Lukov’s Bulgarian National Legions supported the deportation and murder of thousands of Jews during the #Holocaust.
This is happening today.#LukovMarch pic.twitter.com/0D1mnZSypY
— (((WJC))) (@WorldJewishCong) February 17, 2018
Violeta Yakova, a Bulgarian Jewish Communist partisan who assassinated the Bulgarian Nazi leader Hristo Lukov in 1943. pic.twitter.com/MIsqimwNaE
— pav ☭???????? (@MissPavIichenko) February 17, 2018
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