Ovcha kupel

The tension between the residents of the Ovcha Kupel district in Sofia and migrants placed in the detention centre there increased sharply on Wednesday night, and the police had to intervene.

At present, Bulgaria houses 955 foreigners at temporary centres for accommodation run by the State Agency for Refugees (DAB).

This was stated on Tuesday by Bulgaria's Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova in a response to a question of MP from the ruling coalition.

Bulgaria would invest BGN 848 M, VAT excluded, in the first stage of the project for the construction of a third line of Sofia Metro, Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski said on Tuesday.

Residents of the Ovcha kupel neighbourhood in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia expressed discontent with the failure of institutions to effectively deal with the migrants residing in the nearby refugee camp.

Sofia Municipality imposes BGN 600 000 fines on the contractors of the project for the renovation of the area around the National Palace of Culture (NDK), said Yordanka Fandakova, Mayor of Bulgaria's capital Sofia in an interview for bTV.

The major reason is that the contractors have been returning up to seven times in order to finish renovation of the park area in front of NDK.

A mass fight in the centre of the Bulgarian capital on Tuesday evening left three Afghan citizens lightly injured.

The incident happened in front of a kebab shop in the area between the Central market hall and Lions' bridge (Lavov most), where migrants often gather.

According to media reports, the fight pitted against each other two large groups of Afghan and Pakistani men.

Daily scandals between migrants often growing into massive fights disturb the everyday life of residents of the Ovcha kupel neighbourhood in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia.

The garbage left by the inhabitants of the refugee centre and suspicions for human smuggling have also become part of the daily routine of local residents.

Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova has announced that work on the third subway line of Bulgaria's capital is to start in the spring of 2016.

In an interview with the Bulgarian National Television, she has warned this will cause traffic disruptions across the capital, with locations of new metro stations (or connections to existing lines) set on a number of venues in downtown Sofia.

The protests of Bulgarian policemen over the planned cuts in their social benefits are continuing for the third consecutive day on Thursday.

Trade unions had informed the municipality that a protest flashmob will take place between 18.30 and 20 EET at the Eagles' Bridge in Sofia on Thursday, daily Dnevnik protest.

Bulgarian authorities detained eighteen refugees, who were illegally accommodated at a flat in the neighbourhood of Ovcha Kupel in Sofia.

The men, who are from Syria, will be checked for the possession of documents, the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) informs.