November 27, 2020

Desecration of the Bulgarian Tourists’ Memorial in Ohrid

Incident
Incident due to ethnical belonging, citizenship or language

What happened: On 27.11.2020, in the morning, someone destroyed the memorial on the shore of the Ohrid Lake honouring the Bulgarian tourists who lost their lives during a journey on the Ilinden ship in an accident on 5.09.2009.

Brief description of the incident with bias indicators: In this incident the bias motive is national basis since the incident occurred because the memorial is honouring Bulgarian tourists, with the bias indicators being:

  1. Pattern of previous incidents – previous desecration of memorials of similar nature;
  2. Time of incident – right after the Bulgarian veto during the negotiation framework for EU accession of North Macedonia;
  3. National basis – the memorial is honouring Bulgarian tourists.

Impact on the victims and the community: These types of incidents call into question the general safety in the country and the cohabitation among the different national, ethnic and linguistic groups in society.


Number of victims
-
Number of Perpetrators
-
Status of the case
Under investigation
Type of incident?
Destruction of property
Desecration of the Bulgarian Tourists’ Memorial in Ohrid image