Roma Who Built Illegally in Bulgaria's Varna 'Can't Have Housing'

Roma residents who erected illegally dozens of homes in a Varna ghetto have no right to be provided with social housing, a regional mayor has said.

Authorities began on Thursday demolishing part of 60 dwellings which are to be bulldozed after having sheltered hundreds of Roma people for years.

Activitists have warned that many of them will remain homeless, though the municipality has vowed to offer temporary accommodation to some.

Hristo Hristov, the mayor of Mladost neighborhood where the Maksuda ghetto is located, told the Bulgarian National Radio on Friday that the Varna municipality is just "doing its job" by removing the buildings and is carrying out an order that should have been put into practice a year ago.