A Roma bride ignited the bloody vendetta in Kazanlak. One person died in the mass fight, and four more are dying in the hospital.
The rift between the Tahirovi and Bizhevi families began 40 years ago, the residents of the two villages of Manolovo and Tzha told the Telegraph.
No one knows what the backstory is, but they remember that it started with the theft of a bride. However, it did not lead to a wedding, but to a serious fight between relatives. “Even then, they were fighting, in Bai-Tosh’s time, but the militia came and dispersed them quickly. Probably even then, if it was like now, they would have killed each other and there would have been more corpses,” comments Stefan, who is a direct witness of the events. Over the years, the enmity between the two families intensified. They started fighting wherever they met. Some did not set foot on others, they passed their villages, but if they happened to encounter each other, it became scary.
37-year-old Rangel Stanchev was killed in the treacherous attack with hoes, sledgehammers, turnips, metal pipes and other improvised objects in the center of Kazanlak. The young man leaves two young children orphans. His father was with him during the beating, he was also injured, but less.
“They killed his son in front of his eyes. He is here in the village, he was discharged for home treatment, but he does not want to meet anyone,” the neighbors explained. “And we don’t know why they can’t understand each other for so many years. It’s not normal, it’s the 21st century, and these are old enmities,” the neighbors also commented. They said that the case in the District Court in Kazanlak was because of a previous fight between the families. Then the father of Rangel, who died on Monday, was severely beaten. The assailants were from the Bizhev family, who are fighting with Tahirovi on Monday as well. At that time, a child was run over during the stampede, who later died in the hospital. This further inflamed the tension between the clans in the two neighboring villages.
11 people are hospitalized in a serious condition in the Kazanlak hospital. There are victims from both genders. As many of the participants in the melee are bandaged, have varying degrees of injuries and have been released for home treatment. However, they refuse to talk and share exactly what they share with others. Their neighbors are more talkative, but they are also cautious because they are afraid. It turned out that the families were some of the local leaders and they were in command in the hamlets. However, it became clear that representatives of the two families had to appear at the case in Kazanlak to testify.
Even while the court was sitting at noon, the street leading to the market in Kazanlak, where the cars of the family from Manolovo were parked, was blocked by cars of the clan from the village of Tuzha.
“Two vans came, several Mercedes and Beemvets with their people. Young old, women, children. All armed with whatever they could get. To beat, to kill. They waited for the others to come out of the court and immediately started them, by the time they came to their senses, the men had already fallen. This murdered man was beaten to death in the street,” shared a resident of Manolovo, who was at the melee, but was afraid to take a picture and reveal his name. The man is adamant that the altercation was inevitable after they were attacked suddenly and surprisingly by the others.
“We didn’t plan it, they did. They were prepared with axes and hoes, we did not expect. We are peaceful people,” the eyewitness explained. According to him, nothing can stop the vendetta.
“Last year, it was still autumn, but now it wasn’t cold. They met in front of the police, in front of the administration. And they fought, the police didn’t even try to break them up. And they have already raised their hands and don’t want to deal with it,” added the man.
Police and gendarmerie cordoned off the two villages the day after the bloodshed. The uniforms will stay until things die down. The worry is that once a member of the clan is killed, revenge will inevitably be sought.
“They are used to waiting, they are patient. A day may pass, a week, a month. If they set themselves a goal, others will not get away with it. They will wait for an opportune moment and strike,” explained an elderly resident of Manolovo. “They don’t mess with the Bulgarians, they don’t even cause problems. Most of them work, hire them during the summer, some also go abroad. But they have their gypsy enmities,” he added.
In both forces, apparently life continues on its normal path, there is no tension. The establishments are full of young people, the elderly cultivate their yards in the spring. The uniformed keep watch in their patrol cars. Police are also at the schools in Pavel Banya, where most of the children of both families study. The goal now is not to detect each other, so as not to come to a conflict.
11 people were detained after the mass fight in Kazanlak, the Ministry of the Interior announced.
The materials for them have been sent to the prosecutor’s office. They will be brought to court with a request for permanent detention. The prosecutor’s office is expected to impose measures of 72 hours on them today. Evidence is being collected, footage from cameras in the area is being reviewed, and witnesses are being sought.
Many people are understood to have filmed the melee on their phones, so investigators are appealing for their cooperation by giving statements to police and providing footage of the battle scenes.
