20 People Detained during Protest Rally  after Clashes between Bulgarians, Roma in Sofia

Sofia, June 16 (BTA) - Police detained 20 people on Monday for
failure to carry out police orders and obstructing police
checks, the Interior Ministry said in a press release.

The 20 were detained on Monday evening when about a hundred
people came out to protest against the Roma in Sofia's
Orlandovtsi residential district.

Later in the evening the tension grew. The protestors wanted to
march to the neighbourhing Benkovski residential district. The
police tried to halt the march but the protestors used force
which required reinforcement of the police presence.

The conflict started on Saturday over loud music coming from a
car riding around the park. A group of young men made remarks
about the music to the Roma drivers. According to one of the
young men, soon after three other cars came from the Roma
neighbourhood out of which came people with axes. Residents told
Bulgarian National Television that loud music and cars had been
a regular occurrence in the park in the past months. Close to
200 people came out to protest against the Roma in Orlandovtsi
on Sunday after which a few Roma were wounded.