Fans of top Russian football club Zenit Saints Petersburg have allegedly voiced their contempt for the Bulgarian Roma population during a Championship League game.

"Bulgaria is for Bulgarians, not for dirt," a poster held by Zenit fans said in Bulgarian during the game between Zenit and Portuguese team Porto on Wednesday. Zenit defeated the Portuguese side 3:1, and Bulgarian news agencies discovered the photo of the poster on Friday.

While it is unclear whether the fans in question are Russians or Bulgarians living in Saint Petersburg, their message was obviously a reaction to the ongoing ethnic tensions in Bulgaria that started last week.

Last Friday, the murder of Bulgarian youngster, Angel Petrov, 19, who was deliberately run over by a minivan, which, according to witnesses, was driven by an associate of Roma mafia boss Kiril Rashkov, led to massive protests of the ethnic Bulgarians in the village of Katunitsa, where Rashkov's mansions are located. They culminated Saturday night into the burning of Rashkov's properties by football club fans from Plovdiv, which is near to Katunitsa, and by football club fans from the capital Sofia and the southern city of Stara Zagora.

The following several days saw protests in many major Bulgarian cities, including the capital Sofia. Nearly 350 people in total have been arrested by the police after the three nights of rallies that unfortunately involved what has been perceived as ethnic hatred. Many in Bulgaria suspect that right-wing Ataka (Attack) leader Volen Siderov is behind these rallies.

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