SCOPE,
20.01.2023 (BTA)
The secretary of the cultural club "King Boris III" in Ohrid was beaten up this evening, MEP Andrei Kovachev said on his Facebook account.
"Violence, hatred and discrimination must stop! I expect an immediate reaction from the authorities in both countries! This situation is intolerable. The political class, the media and academia have created an atmosphere of hatred and persecution of Bulgarians. The European institutions will of course be informed! The boy is in hospital! The police have been informed!", Kovatchev wrote.
Kovachev later clarified that the attackers were three and had been identified. He himself tried to talk to the victim on the phone, but was unable to because the boy had a broken jaw and doctors were with him. Kovachev had spoken on the phone with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani.
"To be called Bulgarian in Macedonia is to be savagely attacked and beaten. Now the attackers will be sentenced to suspended sentences like Lambe (Alabakovski) and the attacks will continue even more viciously! It's time Bulgaria took care of the Bulgarians who don't live in their homeland!" the Ivan Mihailov Cultural Club in Bitola wrote on their Facebook profile.
The Tsar Boris the Third Club in Ohrid was opened in October last year and so far it has been attacked several times, first with an agricultural cleaver, in November the illuminated sign with the name of the club was broken with stones, and a few days later the premises were shot at with firearms.
The cultural club "Ivan Mihailov" in Bitola was also targeted. The singer Lambe Alabakovski was convicted on probation for the attempted arson of the building.