Assaulted Sofia Mosque to Install New, 'Quieter' Loudspeakers

Politics » DOMESTIC | June 6, 2011, Monday // 09:35
Bulgaria: Assaulted Sofia Mosque to Install New, 'Quieter' Loudspeakers The Banya Bashi mosque in downtown Sofia. Photo by bulgariansights.ne

New  loudspeakers are to be installed in the Banya Bashi Mosque in Bulgaria's capital Sofia, Husein Hafazov, Chief Mufti Office's  secretary general, said Monday.

The Chief Mufty vowed to turn down the volume of the mosque's loudspeakers after a nationalist protest against their loudness took place in front of it in May. The rally resulted in violence.

The existing loudspeakers are too old, and therefore their volume could not be turned down, Hafazov explained in an interview for the Bulgarian National Television.  That is why the new equipment has to be installed.

On May 20, supporters of the far-right, nationalist Ataka party, led by party Chair, Volen Siderov, shocked Bulgaria as its rally protesting against the use of loudspeakers by the mosque got out of hand, and activists of Ataka assaulted praying Muslims in front of the mosque.

On Monday, Hafazov pointed out that Ataka should not consider the quieter loudspeakers a 'victory', revealing that the Mufty initially mulled further cranking up the volume after the accident in order to call for the support of Muslims from Bulgaria and the neighboring Balkan countries.

Recently, the ethnic Turkish party, Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS, is demanding to have a second mosque built in the capital Sofia.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!

Domestic » Be a reporter: Write and send your article
Tags: husein hafazov, muslims, Ataka, mosque, Banya Bashi, Movement for Rights and Freedoms, nationalists, loudspeakers

Advertisement
Advertisement
Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News." Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria. Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper. News Bulgaria