Bulgaria's reformist We Continue the Change/Democratic Bulgaria political bloc (PP-DB) on March 15 condemned an incident the day before in which a mob cornered a Jewish member of parliament representing the PP-DB in a cafe, calling him names and shouting anti-Semitic phrases at him.
The PP-DB said in a statement that it strongly opposes any kind of “discriminatory speech and hooligan attacks” and called the attack against member of parliament Daniel Laurer unacceptable and called for those involved in the “hooligan attack” to be held accountable.
"We are using this opportunity to express again strong concern about the currently unpunished incitement of ethnic hatred in Bulgarian society,” the statement said. “With the clear knowledge that it is done for election purposes, we are convinced that tacitly encouraging such behavior is far from harmless."
The statement was in response to an incident on March 14 in which a group of about 20 people verbally attacked Laurer. The demonstrators entered a cafe where Laurer was and started shouting anti-Semitic phrases such as "Go to Israel," "Jewish SOB,” and "Jews destroyed this world” and calling Laurer names.
The group eventually allowed Laurer to leave the cafe but continued taunting him as he walked to the nearby National Assembly building.
Some of the people in the group had taken part in a protest sponsored by the Revival party that was held earlier on March 14 in front of the U.S. Embassy. The Revival party, which has expressed anti-European and pro-Kremlin views, is the fourth-largest in the Bulgarian parliament.
Human rights organizations called the verbal attack on Laurer a hate crime and demanded an investigation. Thus far, Bulgaria’s law enforcement agencies have remained silent.
The PP-DB together with the GERB form Bulgaria’s governing coalition, which supports a pro-Western course. Laurer previously served as minister of innovation and growth in former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov's government.
The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) announced on March 15 that it had sent a message to the prosecutor's office about the attack on Laurer, saying the incident is a clear example of hate speech.
The attack on Laurer “is a dangerous escalation of fascist propaganda against which the Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office is inactive," the BHC said.
The press center of the Interior Ministry said the identity of the people who participated in the incident had been established. Police were due to submit a report to the prosecutor-general's office.
The prosecutor-general’s office in Sofia said in January that it opened an investigation into an incident in which obituaries of Adolf Hitler were pasted onto the exterior of the Sofia Synagogue.
The Jewish community said at the time that there had been an increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the country.