By Joseph Marshall
A group of Bulgarian youths shouting Nazi slogans and giving Nazi salutes tried to force its way into a hotel housing Jewish teenagers in Bansko, Bulgaria, on Sunday night.
Video from outside the hotel showed several people dressed in black gathering near the entrance, raising their arms in Nazi salutes and repeatedly shouting “Sieg Heil.”
According to Victor Fadlun, president of the Jewish Community of Rome, the group wore black shirts bearing skull images, blocked the hotel entrances and threatened the teenagers inside.
“Our children are not free to travel in Europe without being exposed to violence and verbal abuse from anti-Semites,” Fadlun said.
He said police initially removed the group, but the youths returned after officers left and again blocked the entrances.
“There were several tense minutes, not least because, after the police intervened, the neo-Nazis returned and once again blocked the entrances, threatening and shouting at our young people,” Fadlun said.
The hotel was housing participants in Sayarim, a two-week World Bnei Akiva summer camp for Jewish teenagers between the ages of 15 and 16. The program brought more than 100 teenagers from Italy, Israel, Canada, the United States and several European countries to Bulgaria’s Pirin Mountains.
Bulgarian police confirmed the incident occurred in Bansko, not Sofia as initially reported by several Italian news organizations.
The Bulgarian Interior Ministry described the incident as a verbal confrontation between Bulgarian and Italian youths and said there had been verbal aggression from both sides. Police said no physical confrontation occurred.
All those involved were identified, and police determined that the Bulgarian youths were minors. A case file was opened and sent to prosecutors.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani expressed solidarity with the teenagers and the Jewish Community of Rome.
“I condemn this latest episode of anti-Semitism, a scourge that must be combated, a form of hatred and discrimination that must be eradicated,” Tajani said.
The incident was at least the fifth anti-Jewish incident reported around the world over the weekend.
Early Saturday morning, an arsonist set fire to Nöam, a kosher restaurant in Montreal. Montreal police are investigating the fire as a suspected arson.
Later Saturday, Congregation Agudas Israel in Saskatoon was struck with eggs while congregants were inside attending Shabbos services.
A swastika was discovered painted on the statue of the Rambam in the historic Jewish Quarter of Córdoba, Spain, while Major League Soccer opened an investigation after anti-Jewish and discriminatory chants were directed at Israeli player Dor Turgeman during Saturday night’s match between CF Montréal and the New England Revolution in Montreal.
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