Romani people

A Bulgarian court has ordered Deputy Prime Minister and nationalist party leader Valeri Simeonov to refrain from using hate speech following anti-Roma statements he made in parliament in 2014, lawyers from a human rights group said on Wednesday.

Inspired by the life and work of the legendary Romani-French guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt, Djangofest Athens, now in its eighth year, celebrates all things gypsy jazz, with music concerts, film screenings, dance activities, events for children and more. The event at Technopolis is admission-free and starts at 7 p.m.

Romanian coastguards on Sunday intercepted a fishing vessel carrying 87 migrants, including 23 children, in the Black Sea.

The boat was sailing toward the Romanian coast in the third incident of its kind in the past month.

The number of people trying to cross the border from Romania to Hungary has also increased during the past month, officials say.

The number of arrests for illegal migration in Bulgaria in the first half of 2017 was 80 per cent lower than in the first six months of 2016, going by Interior Ministry figures, quoted by the Independent Balkan News Agency. 

Since the beginning of 2017, a total of 1461 people were arrested for illegal migration by June 30. By the end of June 2016, the number had added up to 7134.

Go-go dancers performed during the weekend at an event held in the yard of the Gymnasium high school in Prokuplje, Beta reported on Monday.

At the same time, the yard of an elementary school in this southern town hosted a Roma wedding party.

Greece's Roma reacted on Thursday to an amendment passed through Parliament on Tuesday which foresees the resettlement of thousands of the community's members in 70 new camps without prior consultation.

Local Gypsy swing act Gadjo Dilo has teamed up with folk rock singer Vangelis Germanos for a series of performances and will be playing the Gazarte Roof Stage on Thursday, July 27. The show starts at 10 p.m. and admission costs 8 euros.

Gazarte, 32-34 Voutadon, Gazi,
tel 210.346.0347, www.gazarte.gr

Belgrade-based tourist company CitySoul has cancelled its planned "Gypsy Tour" of the Serbian capital, which was to include driving to Roma neighbourhoods, seeing how people live there and "optional talking to a Gypsy", after the tour was accused of racism.

"Unique in our city - Roma safari! Optionally you can talk to them, for 11,200 dinars [93 euros]" read one Twitter comment.

Bosnian musician Goran Bregovic - famed internationally for his Emir Kusturica film scores - and his Wedding & Funeral Band, accompanied by Epirote clarinetist Petroloukas Halkias, will take concertgoers on a musical journey through the Balkans at the Lazariston Monastery in Thessalniki on July 12 and the Melina Mercouri Open-Air Theater in Athens's Vyronas neighborhood on July 14.

Milos Zeman - Photo: David Sedlecký / Wikipedia

President of the Czech Republic Milos Zeman is convinced that the arrival of migrants to Europe was organized and believes that Europe is threatened by a new migrant wave from the Middle East and Africa.