By Angel Krasimirov
Reuters
VRACHESH, Bulgaria — When Bulgarian doctor Irena Marinova arrived in an ambulance at the home of a pregnant Roma woman in November, she says she was beaten up by two men who accused her of being late.
The government blamed Roma for 175 such attacks on medics last year and in December told ambulances not to go to areas where they have previously been assaulted unless their safety could be guaranteed. The remarks reignited tensions with the impoverished community and pose a new challenge to Europe’s efforts to integrate its largest ethnic minority.
“I have worked as a doctor for 17 years but such a thing has never happened to me,” Marinova told Reuters at the hospital where she works in Botevgrad, about 40 km (25 miles) east of the capital Sofia. “Many things should change. They (the Roma) feel they have impunity and that is why they are doing this.”
Read Full Story: Ambulance attacks open wound of Roma relations in Bulgaria