An ethnic Bulgaria family has been thrashed in by 40 Roma in Sofia's Moderno Predgradie (Modern Suburb) district Sunday afternoon.

The information was reported Monday by the Bulgarian National Radio, BNR, citing one of the victims. One man is listed in the emergency Pirogov hospital with a broken jaw – he underwent surgery and is in stable condition.

Iva Shishkova says that her mother, father, and boyfriend intervened after seeing a Roma teenager breaking into their neighbors' yard by catching the boy and attempting to hold him until the arrival of the police, whom she immediately called. The boy managed to break loose and escaped. At this time 40 Roma men, women, and children came running, armed with sticks and bricks, shouting "let's kill them."

The witness further tells that her boyfriend was thrown on the ground, her father was kicked in the head and her mother shoved. The father is the one sustaining the broken jaw.

Shishkova praised the police for their swift arrival with many handling the crowd and making several arrests while two of them guarded the house for the entire night.

"But what is going to happen in the days to come?" she points out, adding the family never had any previous problems with Roma.

The Head Secretary of the Interior Ministry, Chief Commissar, Kalin Georgiev, has confirmed the incident, saying that one person has been detained and more arrests are pending. He stressed he did not want to give any "ethnic nuances" to the story.

The Chief of the Sofia Police Directorate, Commissar, Valeri Yordanov, further informed that they are searching for 3 people in connection with the case.

Tensions in Bulgaria flared and the country has been gripped by week-long protests, after the September 23 murder of an ethnic Bulgarian youth by Roma in the Plovdiv village of Katunitsa.

At some locations protests have turned violent and anti-Roma racist slogans were shouted.

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