Effort to Remove Street Hate Signs Held in Sofia

Jerusalem, 18 June, 2023 (TPS) -- SOFIA, 18.06.2023 (BTA)
An annual campaign to remove hate speech signs and hate symbols from Sofia streets was held for the fifth time on Sunday. It focused on the area of Eagles Bridge and Tsar Ivan Asen II Street in the city center. This area, as well as Veslets Street, also located downtown, are most often marred by hate signs. The locations have large concentrations of football fan groups.

Alexander Oscar, leader of the Shalom Organization of Jews in Bulgaria, thanked Mayor Yordanka Fandakova for her role in keeping up the annual effort. According to Oscar, the initiative gives a clear sign that “we will not tolerate hate speech and hate symbols in our city, a place of tolerance and wisdom”. He noted that those who draw such inscriptions and symbols in public places do not probably realize what they do to society. “Their attempts to take us back to an earlier era will fail,” he added.

The launch of Sunday’s effort was attended by representatives of foreign diplomatic missions, public figures and members of the general public.

Mayor Fandakova said: “Today, we are deleting signs of hate, but generally, this is also an effort against vandalism.” She urged people to show zero tolerance for vandalism. She noted with regret that protective glass panels in the Largo, across from the TZUM department store, were smashed last night.

Sunday’s event is another occasion to state that Sofia has been a city of tolerance for many centuries, Fandakova said. The word “sophia” means “wisdom”, the Mayor noted. “We want our city to remain a place of tolerance and wisdom, and therefore we rally to the effort to clear it of hate speech, both literally and figuratively,” she said.