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On Sunday angry residents in Harmanli, a town in the south-east of the country, were joined by far-right groups in the anti-migrant march, as they chanted slogans like “newcomers out!” and “Bulgaria above all, refugees out!” Angel Dzhambazki, a European Parliament Member and Vice-President of the Bulgarian National Movement (VMRO) attended the event and said residents should not have to live in fear because of migrants. He told the crowd: “People of Harmanli want to live in safety, not to be ill from sicknesses unknown from 100 years ago in Europe, carried by some Afghan farmer. “People do not want to meet these people at night.”

RT Harmanli citizens were joined by far-right groups in the anti-migrant march

It is the third time in two months protests against the country’s largest camp, which hosts around 1,500 asylum seekers mainly from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Pakistan, have been staged. In October, locals from the town expressed anger over reports the camp would potentially double in size. The Harmanli refugee centre is expected to increase capacity to exceed 3,000, in a town with just over 18,000 residents. Officials plan to eventually expand this to nearly 5,000 – meaning that nearly one in three of those in the remote Bulgarian town could be a refugee in the next year.

People do not want to meet these people at night Angel Dzhambazki

Tempers boiled over at the announcement, and frustrated locals took to the streets to protest the expansion as they demanded the camp should be shut down. The October demonstration was also fuelled by concerns about possible violence and petty crime, as the locals claimed there have been incidents involving some of the camp residents over the past years. In September, a mass brawl between two groups of 800 migrants – from Iraq and Afghanistan – prompted the police to intervene and a strict ban on drinking alcohol was enforced in the camp. A speaker at the October protest against the migrant camp said: "We don't want them in the town at all, or at least they should be locked up and not allowed in the town."

RT It is the third time in two months protests against the country’s largest camp have been staged

UKIP MEP Paul Nuttall visits the Roma ghetto in Sofia Wed, February 1, 2017 Fakulteta district of Sofia, Bulgaria where 55,000 Bulgarian romas live in exteme poverty Play slideshow 1 of 11 Roma children lie in squalor as they cry for food