Authorities Start Razing Illegal Roma Buildings in Bulgaria's Varna

Sixty-one illegally built dwellings in the Roma ghetto of Maksuda, Varna (in NE Bulgaria) are to be demolished starting Thursday.

There has bee some controversy over the number of inhabitants.

A total of 520 people live in the housing units, 200 of them children, data from the national Department of Civil Registration and Administrative Services (GRAO) and from the local administration suggests.

Hristo Hristov, Mayor of Mladost District where the ghetto is located, says the residents to not number more than "50-60".

Hristov is quoted by the news website Dnevnik.bg as saying social housing will be provided for all of the locals who are left homeless.

While bulldozing of the buildings is being carried out smoothly, reportedly there are some residents who have vowed to set themselves on fire if their houses are torn down.

The move was initially scheduled for last week, but irregularities in part of the documents needed for the demolition caused a minor delay.