Wave of violence against Roma in Hungary

[Hannah Bell]

For weeks, neo-fascist groups have been carrying out acts of violence against the Roma minority in the northern Hungarian town of Gyöngyöspata. The unceasing wave of assaults is a direct result of the right-wing nationalist policies of Prime Minister Victor Orban and the ruling Fidesz party. The government has largely given a free hand to mobs to organise the persecution of the Roma.

Since the beginning of March, fascist groups have been terrorising the Roma who live among the 2,800 inhabitants in the municipality of Gyöngyöspata. Various uniformed “citizens militia” conduct patrols to supposedly counter the “gypsy terror”. Some of these groups are regarded as successors to the banned “Hungarian Guard”, the paramilitary arm of the ultra-right party Jobbik...

On April 22, the Hungarian Red Cross brought hundreds of Roma to safety from the right-wing extremists. Nearly 300 women and children were removed in six buses, after the extremist Vedero (Defence Force) militia announced it would be holding a “training camp” over the Easter weekend. Participants were asked to come in uniform and bring weapons.

The Roma have received no protection from the authorities, with a police spokesman claiming preposterously that there was little they could do against groups “patrolling peacefully”. The reason for their hands-off attitude lies in the fact that wide sections of the police sympathise with the right-wing mob. Some 30 percent of police officers are organised in a union that stands close to Jobbik. Many senior officers support Jobbik or groups sympathetic to it...The behaviour of the Orban government towards the events is seen, correctly, by the neo-fascists as signifying silent support...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/may2011/roma-m03.shtml

[ZombieHorde]

1. Super lame. nt