Far-right gains could put Hungary reforms at risk

(Reuters) - The scenario is classic. Hungary's economy is in crisis, its large Roma minority is an easy scapegoat, and a far-right party blaming "Gypsy crooks" and "welfare spongers" is set to be the big winner.

READ MORE: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62S1CU20100329

Hungary: 4 Detained in Gypsy Killings

By NICHOLAS KULISH
Published: August 21, 2009

The Hungarian police arrested four people early Friday in connection with a series of killings of Roma, commonly referred to as Gypsies, that have shaken the Roma community and raised ethnic tensions across Hungary. The police said the suspects were arrested at a bar in Debrecen in eastern Hungary. A half-dozen Roma have been killed over the past year in nighttime attacks with shotguns, firebombs and other weapons at the victims’ homes, usually on the edges of Roma neighborhoods. In the most recent attack, a Roma woman was shot and killed this month and her 13-year-old daughter seriously wounded in the eastern village of Kisleta.

Hungary: Assaults on Gypsies hurt country

BUDAPEST, Hungary, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom condemned assaults on Gypsies and warned such incidents could undermine the country's stability.

Solyom was commenting on the Aug. 3 slaying of a 45-year-old Romany, or Gypsy, woman and the multiple gunshot wounding of her 13-year-old daughter in their home in Kisleta village, northeast Hungary.

The president said the assault is not only a Gypsy affair but it strikes at the stability of Hungary, the MTI news agency reported Tuesday.

The situation now is explosive and the authorities should find perpetrators of the killings and attacks as soon as possible, he said. Providing safety of the Romany minority is the country's prime task, Solyom said.

Hungary's Romany leaders estimate their minority amounts to about 500,000.

At least six Gypsies have been killed in Hungarian villages in the past year.

Burial for victim of attacks on Hungary's Gypsies

The Associated Press
Friday, August 7, 2009; 1:15 PM

KISLETA, Hungary -- Hundreds of people gathered Friday to pay their respects at the funeral of a 45-year-old woman, the sixth fatal victim in a series of attacks against Gypsies in Hungary.

Police say the attacks are linked, may have been committed by the same small group, and that the weapons used in Monday's shooting of Maria Balogh and her 13-year-old daughter in their home in Kisleta, a small village in eastern Hungary, had been used in at least two of the previous attacks.

Balogh's daughter survived the shooting and is recuperating in a hospital.

Police have 100 officers working on the crimes, the first of which took place in July 2008, and this week doubled the reward for information that could solve all the attacks to 100 million forints (euro370,000, $525,000).

The attacks usually have been carried out at homes at the edge of small villages near highways providing a quick escape route.

Balogh and her daughter were attacked Monday before dawn but were discovered only hours later when Balogh's sister came to pick them up for work at a tobacco farm.

Gypsies, or Roma as they sometimes prefer to be called, are among the poorest and least-educated Hungarians. They make up about 5 percent of Hungary's population of 10 million and many lost their jobs as the communist system crumbled and the large state-run factories which guaranteed employment were closed or privatized.

Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai expressed his condolences to the family and said that the murderers had attacked the whole Hungarian nation.

"To drive back extremism, to hold society together and to improve on the condition of Gypsies is not simply a government task," Bajnai said. "It is also a national responsibility."

Hungary Gypsy woman killed, daughter hurt

BUDAPEST, Hungary, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- A Gypsy woman was shot to death and her daughter was seriously injured Monday in northeast Hungary in what was characterized as a racial assault, police said.

The mother and her daughter, 13, were attacked in their home on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Kisleta, a local government official told the Budapest Times.

Kisleta Mayor Sandor Penzsesz said neighbors heard three to four shots.

Preliminary results on the crime scene indicate it was the latest in a series of racially motivated assaults against Gypsies in Hungary, a police statement said.

The girl was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, Kisleta police spokeswoman Rita Fedor said, the Times reported.

At least six Gypsies, or Romanies as they are formally called, were killed in the past year in Hungary.

Hungarian Blues

posted by Eyal Press on 05/18/2009 @ 3:03pm

I spent much of last year in Hungary, leaving just before the IMF cobbled together a rescue package to prevent the nation's economy from imploding. A full-scale implosion has been averted, at least for now, but Hungary is still in dire shape. Its economy is projected to shrink by 6 percent this year, unemployment is rising, and the country's disgraced socialist leader, Ferenc Gyrunscany, recently had to step down after several years of feckless rule that boosted the popularity of the Hungarian right.

This is bad news for all Hungarians, but especially for the country's Roma gypsies, a favorite scapegoat of the Hungarian Guard, a fascist group that has also seen its popularity grow in recent years. A number of gypsies have been killed recently in unsolved murders presumed to be the work of right-wing vigilantes, and the level of anti-Roma sentiment in Hungarian society has apparently increased dramatically. "You now hear anti-gypsy sentiment at every level of society," a prominent politician recently told the Financial Times.

I found this statement alarming in part because, frankly, I heard anti-gypsy sentiment at every level of society a year ago, including from young people in Budapest who thought of themselves as open-minded. In fairness, I also met Hungarians who marched in demonstrations against racism and intolerance. The current economic upheaval has not yet brought the far-right, much less the fascists, to power in Hungary. But it has made expressions of hatred more frequent and more casually permissible, an ominous development in a place where insecurity is rising.

U.S. FBI helps Hungary on Gypsy killings

BUDAPEST, Hungary, May 4 (UPI) -- U.S. FBI agents are helping Hungarian police investigate a recent series of killings involving Gypsies.

The head of Hungary's police Jozsef Bencze said FBI agents analyze evidence they receive from Hungarian police officers and help produce psychological profiles of killers, the Hungarian news agency MTI said Monday.

About 100 Hungarian police officers work on some 18 cases which are linked with the killings of Gypsies in northeastern Hungary, Bencze said.

The Romany community has about 600,000 members and is the largest ethnic minority in Hungary.

Last week, Bencze said he suspects the killings could be blamed on the same group of extremists.

Two Gypsies were killed in the town of Nagycsecs in November. A Gypsy father and his 5-year-old son were killed in Tatarszentgyorgy in February and a 54-year-old Gypsy man was shot dead in Tiszalok April 22.

A recent public opinion survey found 82 percent of Hungarians hold negative feelings toward members of the Romany minority, MTI said. The survey was carried out among 2,500 adult Hungarians from March 23 to April 7, MTI said.

Murder Mystery: Who's Killing Hungary's Gypsies?

By John Nadler / Tiszalök
Friday, May. 01, 2009
Time.com

Jeno Koka's killers shot him in the chest moments after he had bid good night to his wife Eva and stepped from his house on his way to a shift at the nearby pharmaceutical factory where he worked.

The 54-year-old grandfather bled to death only a few paces from his doorstep.

Although Koka's wife said she never heard the shot that felled her husband, hundreds of thousands of others across Hungary did.

Koka's murder on April 22 was the fifth in recent months of a member of Hungary's 600,000-strong Roma community. Hungarian police believe that a small group of killers is targeting Roma, who are also known as gypsies and remain one of the most marginalized and neglected groups in Europe.

(MORE)

Fifth gypsy murder raises ethnic tensions in Hungary

Published Date: 30 April 2009
By Matthew Day

THOUSANDS of Hungarian gypsies attended the funeral yesterday of the latest victim in a series of murders that have stoked ethnic tensions and prompted fears that far-right extremists are waging a bloody secret war against the country's largest minority.

Jeno Koka, 54, was gunned down last week in the courtyard of his home as he set off to his work in a factory.

It came weeks after a gypsy man and his four-year-old son were shot dead after fleeing their home, which had been set on fire by assa

Mr Koka's shooting brings the total of murdered gypsies to five in less than a year, and police suspect the killings are related. Matching DNA samples were found at some of the scenes.

"These are professional killers," justice minister Tibor Draskovics said. "Neither the police nor I will rest till we have caught them."

The clinical execution of Mr Koka – a single shot to the heart – implies, police say, that the murderer had firearms training, so inquiries include the armed forces and even the police.

But so far the only leads are that the killer, or killers, may use a black car, and live in Budapest, as the murders have taken place near a motorway.

Gypsy rights groups have accused the authorities of complacency when it comes to protecting gypsies, or Roma as they are known.

The killings have raised tensions between the country's gypsies, who make up 6 per cent of the population, and the Hungarian majority.

Relations between the two groups deteriorated in February after the murder of one of the country's leading handball players, allegedly by a gang of Roma, outside a nightclub.

Far-right groups launched a wave of anti-Roma demonstrations, and rights groups believe attacks on gypsies have risen.

Hungary suspects Gypsy assaults organized

BUDAPEST, Hungary, April 27 (UPI) -- Hungary's national police chief said he suspects killings of Gypsies in northeastern Hungary could be blamed on the same ring of extremists.

Jozsef Bencze said he increased an original reward of $45,000 to $227,000 for information that could lead to the killers of members of the Romany (Gypsy) minority, the Hungarian news agency MTI said Monday.

Bencze said two Romanies were killed in the town of Nagycsecs in November, a father and his 5-year-old son were shot dead in Tatarszentgyorgy in February and a 53-year-old Gypsy was shot and killed in Tiszalok Wednesdayas he was about to leave for work in a chemical factory.

A 70-officer police team has worked on the three cases. Police questioned about 2,000 people, Bancze said.

As Economic Turmoil Mounts, So Do Attacks on Hungary’s Gypsies

NYT
By NICHOLAS KULISH
Published: April 26, 2009

TISZALOK, Hungary — Jeno Koka was a doting grandfather and dedicated worker on his way to his night-shift job at a chemical plant last week when he was shot dead at his doorstep. To his killer, he was just a Gypsy, and that seems to have been reason enough.

Prejudice against Roma — widely known as Gypsies and long among Europe’s most oppressed minority groups — has swelled into a wave of violence. Over the past year, at least seven Roma have been killed in Hungary, and Roma leaders have counted some 30 Molotov cocktail attacks against Roma homes, often accompanied by sprays of gunfire.

But the police have focused their attention on three fatal attacks since November that they say are linked. The authorities say the attacks may have been carried out by police officers or military personnel, based on the stealth and accuracy with which the victims were killed.

(MORE)

Hungarian Neo-Nazi lead war on gypsies

22 April, 2009, 09:30

In Hungary, fascist groups are targeting Roma gypsies, but the government seems to turn a blind eye on the problem of ethnic minorities, and offers no protection for them.

A cold and brutal crime has torn a young family apart. Robert and his five-year-old son were shot dead, and his two other children seriously injured when their home was attacked. A homemade bomb was thrown through the front door and immediately sent the entire house up in flames. The young family had just finished building their small but modern house.

Their only crime was being Roma gypsies.

Robert’s family lives next door, and are reminded daily of the terror of the tragedy, but what haunts them more is the way the criminal investigation is being carried out.

“They pretended not to see 18 bullet holes in the small boy’s body. How is it possible that an experienced police official could not see this? Then it was reported that the fire was electrical. But there are remnants of a bomb everywhere,” says Robert’s mother Erzsebet Csorba.

The European Roma rights centre strongly supports the family’s claims.

“The police were not acknowledging that a murder had taken place. I’m not aware that there has been any progress,” said Rob Kushen from the European Roma Rights Centre in the Hungarian capital of Budapest.

Fighting for their rights, activists also fear that the economic crisis will lead to an increase in hate crimes against Roma in poorer EU countries.

“So far they have done a good job in keeping the peace – which is a recipe for disaster,” Kushen believes.

Attacks on Roma haven’t only increased since the onset of the crisis, but a neo-Nazi trend is also growing in Hungary. The far-right Jobbik party, said to be affiliated with a banned fascist group called the Magyar Guarda, is growing in popularity. They often hold protests against Roma, insisting they are criminals.

Bela Kovacs, President of the Jobbik Party for a Better Hungary is unequivocal in his views:

“Gypsy crimes are growing every day, and it's getting so bad that people are afraid to go out at night,” he said.

But the party refused to comment on its connection with the extremist group which often attends their protests.

Robert’s family believes the Magyar Guarda brutally attacked their loved ones, and will never be punished, especially under the wing of a growing political party.

In the past year alone in Hungary, there have been 18 attacks on Roma homes, and six people have been killed. No one has been caught.

Ombudsman in firestorm over ‘gypsy crime’ comments

Written by Attila Leitner
Thursday, 16 April 2009

Although civil rights ombudsman Máté Szabó clarified his comments on “gypsy crime”, human rights associations continued to demand his resignation last week.

President László Sólyom met with Szabó, reportedly telling him that his remarks had endangered the public’s trust in his office and warned that the protection of rights can only be effective if the four ombudsmen work together.

The president expressed his hope that Szabó will manage to get the trust of the people back by continuing his civil rights work, which has already revealed numerous irregularities. A statement from the ombudsman’s office said Szabó felt the meeting had been instructive.

In an interview with the news weekly Figyelő, Szabó said that Hungarian society needs to be warned about “gypsy crimes”. According to the ombudsman “gypsy crime” is a special type of “livelihood delinquency”, often carried out in groups. “This is a collectivist, nearly tribal society, which stands in sharp contrast with the Hungarian society’s individualist approach”, Szabó said, adding that the state has a crime prevention role and “if a criminal profile is seen, then society needs to be warned, and it has to be called what it is”.

“I am glad that the ombudsmen for data protection and minority rights would like to solve this problem, but without the majority commissioner, myself, this is not possible”, said Szabó adding again it is in the best interest of society to be warned if it is threatened by a specific group of criminals.

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) said that such comments coming from one of the most important persons in human rights protection were unacceptable and requested that the ombudsman put out a statement making it clear that his words were improper and offensive, instead of trying to blame the press.

In his statement the commissioner said an “unfortunate, but not malicious” headline was the cause of the outrage, adding that, just as before, he condemns racism in all its manifestations, whether in words or in actions.

A joint statement by a number of Roma and human rights organisations said that the interview and statement afterwards made it clear that the ombudsman cannot properly fulfil this high office.

The Eötvös Károly Institute noted that, besides the fact that the ombudsman’s comments were unacceptable, they make it clear that he believes the office is there to protect the majority against the minority, which shows that the ombudsman has no clear idea of what the protection of civil rights means.

In order to remove an ombudsman from office, the commissioner needs to resign or must be dismissed by a two-thirds parliamentary majority.

Civil groups demand resignation of ombudsman over remarks on "Gypsy crime"

Saturday, 04 April 2009

Civil groups on Friday demanded the resignation of Hungary's ombudsman Mate Szabo, in the wake of his remarks that some crimes can be associated with the Gypsies. The ombudsman has withdrawn his statements.

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the Roma Civil Rights Foundation and the European Roma Rights Center protested in a joint statement against the ombudsman's remarks, and said Szabo could not fulfill his post credibly in the future.

In a Thursday interview, Szabo said that he could see "the profile of Gypsy crime" as a form of criminal activities to make a living by members of "an almost tribal group as opposed to the highly individual nature of Hungarian society."

"When we see this profile, we must warn the people and we must also give it a name," Szabo added in the interview.

The ombudsman has violated the constitution and should withdraw his remarks, the Society for Civil Liberties (TASZ) said in a statement, adding that an official airing such views was not suitable for the position.

"Szabo stigmatises groups of people and does not have a clear view of the general ombudsman's function to protect fundamental rights," said another NGO, the Eotvos Institute, founded by former Ombudsman Laszlo Majtenyi, in a statement.

The ombudsman withdrew his statements, saying that "I have surely composed my words wrongly... and I apologise if I had offended anybody".

"I withdraw all my statements that can lead to conclusions that I'd ethnicise delinquency," Szabo said on commercial television ATV on Friday evening.

However, he also said he would only resign if organisations authorised by the constitution called him to do so.

Hungary's Roma minority is estimated at 800,000. They live mostly in dire poverty and are hit by unemployment. They are also threatened by a recent surge of attacks that claimed several lives during the past year.

Meanwhile, the paramilitary Hungarian Guard has staged demonstrative marches in villages with a significant Roma population to protest against an assumed increase in crimes which they attribute to the Roma minority.

Hungary's Roma bury victims in emotional funeral

Tue Mar 3, 2009 12:08pm EST

By Marton Dunai

TATARSZENTGYORGY, Hungary (Reuters) - Thousands, mostly Roma, joined the funeral procession Tuesday of a young boy and his father who were shot dead last week in the latest in a series of attacks on Roma in Hungary.

A crowd of about 5,000, which also included politicians from parliamentary parties and civil rights activists, gathered around the graves of the two victims in the village of Tatarszentgyorgy, 65 km (40 miles) southeast of Budapest.

Black-clad mourners wept and when the coffin was lowered into the grave in the small hillside cemetery, the world-famous 100-member Gypsy Symphony Orchestra started to play.

"We seek the forgiveness of the mourning family and...our Gypsy brethren whom for 500 years we have owed an embrace," Hungarian Methodist pastor Gabor Ivanyi, who is not Roma, said in a speech. "We are deeply moved and ashamed people."

The killings last Monday were the latest in a series of more than a dozen attacks on Roma in Hungary in which 7 people have died over the past year.

Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom said Saturday economic crisis had created an urgent need for Hungary and other east European countries to show more understanding for Roma.

It was not known whether the attack was racially motivated and police have so far failed to track down the perpetrators, but Roma community leaders said it bore similarities to other attacks on Roma in other parts of the country.

The boy, who police say was 5 years old, and his father Robert Csorba were shot dead as they were trying to escape their house, which had been set on fire. Two other children were injured in the blaze.

The Roma community is Hungary's largest minority making up 5 to 7 percent of the population of 10 million.

PROTECTION

There is a growing resentment against the Roma, also known as gypsies, as the economic crisis deepens and jobs are lost. The Roma often remain on the margins, lacking jobs and proper education and living in deep poverty. Critics say they take advantage of the welfare state.

The strengthening of the far-right over the past two years, which fights what it says is a rise in "Roma crime," has also contributed to a rise in antagonism, activists say.

The village of Tatarszentgyorgy, which has about 1,900 residents, has been shocked by the attack.

"We still cannot comprehend what happened and this sentiment rules in the entire village," a Roma couple said.

Peter Ignacz, 50, who arrived from Szolnok in the east of Hungary with around 30 members of his family and is also of Roma origin, says Roma do not get any protection and are afraid.

"This (attack) is totally outrageous, and to be honest, Roma people are afraid," he said.

(Reporting by Marton Dunai, Writing by Krisztina Than)

Two die in attack on gypsy family

Published Date: 24 February 2009

A FATHER and his five-year-old son were shot dead in an attack on a Roma home in Hungary yesterday.

Two children were also injured when the house caught fire, local news MTI reported. The attack took place in Tatarszentgyorgy, 40 miles south-east of Budapest.

The full article contains 54 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.

Last Updated: 23 February 2009 11:39 PM
Source: The Scotsman
Location: Edinburgh

Roma bear brunt of Hungary downturn

By Thomas Escritt in Miskolc, Hungary

Published: February 20 2009 02:00 Last updated: February 20 2009 02:00

When night falls in Hetes, a gypsy settlement on the edge of the northern Hungarian town of Ózd, the men take to the streets and mount a guard, arming themselves with all kinds of makeshift weapons, from clubs to kitchen knives.

"We're up all night," said Henrik Radics, his hands resting on a scythe. "If a car comes in, we stop it and find out what they're doing. If they're peaceful we let them go."

Mr Radics and his companions took matters into their own hands after a spate of incidents that culminated in a house being set ablaze and plans by Magyar Garda, a rightwing uniformed group that claims to protect ethnic Hungarians from "gypsy crime", to hold a recruitment rally in the city.

Ózd is typical of the towns of Borsod county: once a proud industrial centre with a giant steel plant, it has struggled since the fall of communism in 1989, with no employers emerging to create jobs on the scale of defunct socialist-era heavy industries.

But the economic downturn in central and eastern Europe has added new urgency to a problem of marginalisation that goes back decades. Surveys show Hungarians, like many of their neighbours in the region, nurture strong feelings of prejudice against gypsies. That means Roma stand to be hit first and hardest by rising unemployment, which stands at 14 per cent in Borsod county, with its high gypsy population, twice the national level. With the government's own forecasts predicting that the economy will contract by 2.7 per cent this year, unemployment is set to rise sharply.

"The matter has reached critical mass," said Peter Hack, a criminologist. "With the economic downturn, the traditional scapegoat hunt has happened. Since there are no immigrants in Hungary, the Roma are the target."

Zsolt Farkas, a gypsy in Miskolc, Hungary's third largest city and the county's capital, speaks for many when he says work is becoming impossible to find.

"I worked on an assembly line at Bosch, and then I installed shutters in houses, but now it's impossible to find a job. When . . . they see I'm a gypsy, they're no longer interested."

Last month the Movement for a Better Hungary, a far-right party, won 8 per cent in a district election in Budapest after campaigning on a slogan of "gypsy crime". Last week Albert Pasztor, police chief in Miskolc, attracted opprobrium and praise in equal measure when he told a press conference that "all the muggings" on a Miskolc council estate over the past two months had been committed by gypsies, adding: "Hungarian and gypsy culture can't live together." He was suspended on the orders of the justice minister but reinstated less than 24 hours later after a chorus of protest from senior police officers, a cross-party show of support from the city's local government and a 1,000-strong rally well attended by skinheads.

This week the gypsy panic reached hysteria when three professional handball players from Croatia, Romania and Serbia were stabbed in a nightclub, allegedly by a 30-strong gang of gypsies, in the western city of Vesz-prem. The Romanian, Marian Cozma, a rising star, died from his wounds.

In the wake of the murder, Ferenc Gyurcsany, the soc-ial-ist prime minister, promised to "act decisively" against violence, and the rightwing opposition party said the government's focus should be on catching criminals. "The number of serious crimes committed by people of gypsy origin is rising at an alarming pace," it said.

Janos Ladanyi, a -sociol-ogist, says that gypsies, deprived first by resettlement programmes in the 1970s of their traditional itinerant lifestyle and then by the deindustrialisation of the 1990s of the low-skilled jobs on which they depended, have turned to crime, both petty and organised.

"We now have a population that's lived completely outside society for 20 years. Every so often, somebody calls for a quick, simplistic solution, which leads to an outbreak of gypsy-related panic, except this time the economic crisis makes it more serious," he said.

This excluded group, which makes up six per cent of Hungary's population, is also the fastest growing.

"If we can't integrate them into the labour force, then the long-term stability of the fiscal system is in question," said Gordon Bajnai, the economics minister. A package of €2bn ($2.5bn, £1.8bn) to be ploughed into the construction industry is part of the answer, he says, creating the kind of low-skilled jobs this population needs.

‘Gypsy crime’ versus ‘political crime’

Written by Jan Mainka, Publisher

Monday, 16 February 2009

The Veszprém murder made it clear that protection rackets remain a problem in Hungary. Secondly, and more emphatically, it demonstrated that relations between ethnic Hungarians and their fellow Gypsy citizens are at breaking point.

In public debate this social tension has overshadowed the real motive for the crime – namely extorting protection money. Enraged citizens were less worked up about the state’s inability to protect its citizens from the crime than the fact that the Veszprém knife killers were “once again” Gypsies. The focus was less on their terrible act of murder, than on the climax of an escalating ethnic conflict.

“Gypsy crime” was denounced, rather than inadequate public safety. The murderers of the Veszprém handball idol Marian Cozma and their relatives earned the hatred and the thirst for revenge of the majority of society, not only because of their crime, but also because they are Gypsies. All the pent-up frustration of highly problematic daily interaction seemed suddenly to find an outlet with the new martyr figure of Cozma. The prominence and widespread popularity of the victim, as well as the brutality of the crime caused the floodgates to open. The fronts in Hungarian society have rarely been so clearly personified. On one side there was the good-hearted sportsman who came to the aid of a restaurant employee in trouble, and on the other side the three ruthless killers whose faces the whole country has now seen. In view of this clear division of roles, regard for political correctness was abandoned and the public expression of anger became uninhibited.

Political correctness

Anyone daring to make mention of racism or ethnic prejudice in the current charged atmosphere is also guilty! Carried along by the wave of anger, politicians of all colours who generally take an evasive approach, particularly in the case of the Gypsy question, have now turned their attentions to this taboo topic more conspicuously than at any other time. After all it must gradually be dawning on them that Hungary is sitting on an ethnic powder keg that could explode at any time. Again we can see how little has been done in the two decades since the change of regime to put an end to this smouldering conflict. It is increasingly clear that the billion-forint social transfers of the past years have had barely any effect, and may even have exacerbated the issue. Not to mention the ridiculous attempt to solve the Gypsy problem by using the neutral term Roma when the Gypsies in Hungary describe themselves as Gypsies. It is surely no consolation for the relatives and friends of Cozma that he was stabbed to death not by invidious Gypsies, but by Roma citizens. In any case, if the problem is not tackled at its roots, then the term “Roma” will soon also be on track for political incorrectness.

In dubio pro reo

The term “Gypsy crime” that is increasingly used in populist and fundamentalist circles similarly ignores the crux of the problem. Even in the case of statistically proven correlations between skin colour and crime rates, we should be wary of making such unfounded generalisations in the heat of the moment. Regardless of the fact that this form of prejudgement cannot be reconciled with the principles of a state based on the rule of law, this term is misleading and tendentious. Verbally it turns a more-or-less probable correlation into a certainty. It suggests that there are only two types of Gypsies: criminals and future criminals – which, fortunately, is not the case.

Speaking sweepingly of “Gypsy crime” is just as misplaced as speaking of “political crime”, instead of referring to the suspected crimes of a certain János Zuschlag or György Hunvald, to mention the two most prominent cases of the past week. Even the fact that purely statistically there is more talk of politicians in connection with corruption and embezzlement than, for example, teachers or postal officers, does not give us the right to prejudge them.

The comparison with politicians throws light on a surprising parallel: the lax handling of state funds has contributed to both groups becoming problem groups. Access to tax money was and is made too easy for these groups, whether we are speaking of social benefits in the first case, or subsidies (Zuschlag) and revenues from the sale of state assets (Hunvald) in the second case. It is said that opportunity makes a thief. In the case of the two problem groups, this consists of too easy, opaque and inadequately monitored access to funds. Members of the underclass – not only those of Gypsy origin – continue to receive excessively generous direct and indirect social benefits without sufficient controls or requirements to do anything in return (for example ensuring that children attend school or carrying out community work).

In this way, such citizens are kept quiet, but are given no preparation for playing a successful part in the labour market. Their peripheral position in society is further cemented by this form of help. Likewise, through too easy access to state funds and positions, politicians lose their motivation to improve their material situation primarily through exemplary service to their country. Expecting this situation to change itself is just as naive as waiting for a cat that until now has been comfortably fed on pet food to suddenly turn from a cuddly toy into a proper mouse hunter.

The fundamental problem is that at the expense of society a standard of living has been put in reach of both groups that is higher than can be justified by their actual contributions to society. What was morally dubious in times of reasonably sound state finances, now simply cannot be financed any more. The state can as little afford to indiscriminately throw around social benefits, as it can to satisfy all officials on the take.

The gradual reduction of funds to both groups will lead to unwanted, but unsurprising side effects. The underclass which is comparatively lacking in motivation to work and training will increasingly try to compensate for the reduction in social support in other ways, and will do so not only by entering into employment relations on the labour market which in any case is shrinking. The possibility of violent protests, similar to those of a few years ago in Slovakia, cannot be excluded. In the case of politicians the drying up of illegal additional income sources will probably result in even stronger negative selection. Increasingly incapable politicians will have to struggle with even bigger problems. There is little that a few idealists can do to change that.

Thousands protest gov't boycott of conservative daily

By Hungary Around the Clock

Over 2,000 people demonstrated on Friday afternoon against Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány's call to cut off state advertising in and subscriptions to Magyar Hírlap over a commentary that referred to the Roma killers of Romanian handball player Marian Cozma as "murderous animals".

Addressing the gathering outside the Prime Minister's Office on Kossuth tér, Magyar Hírlap owner Gábor Széles called Gyurcsány incompetent as prime minister and said he will go down in history as having caused more damage than 1950s dictator Mátyás Rákosi. Széles accused Gyurcsány of ruining the economy, the countryside and health care and of pushing Roma into misery.

Farkas Flórián, representing Roma group Lungo Drom, said the newspaper comments were not offensive to Gypsies and that Gyurcsány, by hiding behind Gypsies, had violated freedom of the press and expression by calling for a boycott of Magyar Hírlap.

Editor István Stefka said Gyurcsány intended to shut his newspaper's mouth. Lawyer Krisztina Morvai, MEP candidate for the far right Jobbik party, called Gyurcsány "an insane Nero" whose action had again united people.

Zsolt Bayer, author of the commentary, said Gypsies have been called by that name for 700 years and this must remain so as "they are our friends". At the same time those who attack teachers, as well as murderers, robbers and thieves who happen to be Gypsies should also be called by that name, he said.

Government spokesman Dávid Daróczi told reporters elsewhere that the call for a boycott was the right decision, as it was borne out by the tone set by those addressing the rally, and the way they spoke about the state of public affairs.

Roma leader blames politicians for anti-Gypsy sentiments

By MTI

The head of Hungary's National Roma Self-Government (OCO) blamed parties in parliament for the anti-Roma sentiments experienced lately in Hungary at a press conference held in Budapest on Thursday.

Orban Kolompar was speaking in response to a debate in the press over the past few months about the existence of "Gypsy crime" or whether the ethnic background of criminals should be noted in connection with crime. The issue flared up again when suspects of the stabbing of international handball players last weekend were said to be part of or associated with a gang of Roma criminals.

Police have not found evidence for this connection, but they did take testimonies from witnesses and former gang associates which suggested a link.

The government has disassociated itself from the use of the term "Gypsy crime" and for membership of an ethnic minority to be singled out in crime statistics.

Kolompar said parties have been noncommittal about the problems of the Roma and were partly responsible for a collective blame for crimes on the Roma community. He added that they have done nothing to help the Roma create a credible political representation for dealing with important economic and social problems among their community.

Kolompar called on the Roma to think about how they see the next ten years for themselves.

He said the remarks by opposition leader Viktor Orban on Wednesday regarding Roma and crime were unfortunate.

Orban said there was no "Gypsy crime" but there were criminals that belong to the Roma minority and the serious crimes committed by Roma was on the rise, which cannot be ignored.

Kolompar asked the help of the media in "creating a normal human atmosphere which focuses primarily on the person, not political interests."

He said parties should support a Roma programme, to be designed by OCO, which would help bring about peace in society. He added that there were plans for a three-way agreement between the OCO, police and the National Association of Civil Self-Defence to train 3,000 Roma and non-Roma civil self-defence personnel as well as social workers to help improve communication among citizens.

‘Time Bomb’ Ticks in Hungary as Roma Tension Rises (Update1)

By Zoltan Simon and Balazs Penz

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Hungary is contending with rising resentment toward its Roma, or Gypsy, population as the economy sinks and unrest grows.

A police chief who last month blamed Roma for crime in his city was fired by the government, then reinstated after more than 1,000 people protested. Anti-Roma demonstrations also erupted in western Hungary last weekend after media reports that Roma men were responsible for the murder of a local athlete. A court in December banned a two-year-old uniformed nationalist group sworn to tackle what it called “Roma crime.”

As in other European countries, Hungary’s Roma live in the poorest areas and endure the highest rates of unemployment, said Janos Ladanyi, director for the Center of Social, Regional and Ethnic Conflicts in Budapest. Clashes will become more frequent as the economic crisis engulfs the region, unless the rule of law can be enforced, he said.

“This is a time bomb,” said Ladanyi. “I hope the alarming events of the past few weeks will make the sensible majority and especially the political elite recognize that we can’t go down this road. This road is a dead end. It leads to the Balkans.”

The government is trying to balance public resentment and the need for order. Justice Minister Tibor Draskovics on Feb. 8 ordered police to increase patrols and the cabinet the same day decided to direct extra funds to security forces.

Need to Act

“We have to act while we can, not wait until the prejudices and the urge to vigilantism distil into unmanageable social phenomena,” Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, 47, wrote on his Web site. “We have to act against violence most decisively.”

The opposition Fidesz party, which is leading the governing Socialist Party in opinion polls ahead of elections next year, said the government should focus more on catching criminals than on worrying about prejudice.

“We have to tell it like it is: the number of serious crimes committed by people of Gypsy origin is rising at an alarming pace,” Fidesz said in a statement yesterday. “We demand that the government, instead of finding excuses based on the origins of the perpetrators, find the perpetrators and protect the rights and interests of the victims.”

The situation isn’t helped by the decline of what was once eastern Europe’s economic dynamo.

Unemployment probably rose to 8.3 percent in January, the highest in at least 10 years, according a Bloomberg survey of economists. Official data is due on Feb. 27.

IMF Aid

Last year, the government was forced to turn to the International Monetary Fund to avert a debt default, and the economy is forecast to contract as much as 3 percent this year.

Marian Cozma, 26, a Romanian national handball player, was stabbed to death in front of a dance club in the town of Veszprem in western Hungary on Feb. 7. Two of the three suspects were detained in Austria late the next day, Hungarian police said in a Feb. 9 statement. The third is being sought.

“Everyone in the whole wide world knows that those murderous animals were Gypsies,” wrote columnist Zsolt Bayer in daily Magyar Hirlap. “A huge number of Gypsies have given up on coexistence and given up on their humanity.”

Gyurcsany ordered state institutions to cancel subscriptions to the daily, his office said in a statement yesterday.

‘Discrimination and Persecution’

Albert Pasztor, the police chief in Miskolc, claimed at a Jan. 30 press conference that all the December and January burglaries in the city of 180,000 were committed by Roma. Draskovics reinstated him after street protests from a crowd estimated at 1,500 by state-run MTI news agency.

With about 10 million people, the Roma have made up the European Union’s largest ethnic minority since the bloc started expanding eastward in 2004. The EU operates an integration program, with traineeships and funding for anti-discrimination groups, according to the European Commission’s Web Site.

“Roma communities in Europe have long faced discrimination and persecution,” the site said.

Rob Kushen, managing director of the European Roma Rights Center, blames the media and growing support for nationalist political parties for fueling hatred.

“What you have is a political climate that plays up ethnic tensions and attempts to demonize the Roma minority,” said Kushen, whose center is in Budapest. “That’s a serious concern. You create the climate for an increase in tension.”

Members of the nationalist group, Magyar Garda, wore 1930s- style uniforms and armbands. It was established in 2007 by the nationalist party Jobbik, which has organized a demonstration for Feb. 13 in Budapest to protest “Roma crime.”

Flag Wavers

During the past two years, members marched in Budapest and villages with a large Roma population under a red-and-white striped flag similar to one used by Hungary’s Nazi-allied government in World War II. The group was banned in December for inciting fear among minorities.

The biggest population of Roma in Europe is in Romania, estimated at as much as 2.5 million people, according to the Roma rights center.

The Roma in Hungary number 200,000 to 700,000, or 2 to 7 percent of Hungary’s 10 million people, Ladanyi said. While many don’t state their ethnicity in the census, about 40 percent are considered “permanently excluded” from society, he said.

“My concern is for the 15 percent or so of Roma who have managed to leave the shantytowns, who are trying to join the middle class but whose tentative grip may slip now during the economic crisis,” said Ladanyi.

To contact the reporters on this story: Zoltan Simon in Budapest at zsimon@bloomberg.net Balazs Penz in Budapest at bpenz@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: February 11, 2009 06:08 EST

Why Fidesz can't profit from "Gypsy crime"

By Erik D'Amato

Despite the bizarre idiosyncrasies of Hungary's electoral system, the country's electoral politics tend to follow the same rules governing other democracies. Chief among these is the importance of the "centrist" or "swing" voters who feel no strong attachment to either (or any) of the main parties vying for power. So it's always important to try to keep on top of what one famous American historian once dubbed "The Vital Center." And at least to me, Hungary's vital center seems to be increasingly preoccupied with two things: avoiding becoming as poor as Gypsies, and the Gypsies.

The news this week that some Roma/Gypsies are planning to set up a self-defense group akin to the right-wing Magyar Gárda has led even some perfect examples of Budapest cosmopolitism I know to shiver. One of the fears is that we could ultimately see a full-blown "race war" pitting uniformed right-wing paramilitaries against their Roma equivalents. (Thought the latter may not be wearing uniforms; one local journalist I know told me the leader of the "Roma Gárda" told his publication that "our skin in our uniform.") Another of the fears - at least among the sort of foreigner-friendly liberal Hungarians I inevitably spend a disproportional amount of time with - is that growing public concern/hysteria over the Roma will naturally play into the hands of the right come voting time, and add to the substantial "vote cushion" already enjoyed by Fidesz.

It is of course true that, if the issue of Gypsy crime (note that I am not putting it in scare quotes) continues to swell in the public consciousness, it will pull voters to the right.

At the same time, the "Gypsy issue" is very much a double-edged sword for Fidesz, and if not handled carefully, could hypothetically even cost the party its now seemingly guaranteed return to power.

The problem for Fidesz is that growing anti-Roma sentiment has the potential to squeeze the party from both sides. On the right it faces the surging Jobbik, which now looks set to easily breach 5% in the upcoming European Elections, and will greatly benefit in the subsequent general elections from the perception that Fidesz is a shoo-in. (In a tighter race, Jobbik supporters would be more likely to vote for Fidesz so as to avoid a return to power by the left.)

Meanwhile, on the left the party faces two problems. One is that the Socialists appear to have finally cottoned on to the potency of the issue, as was demonstrated this weekend when the government backed away from dismissing the police chief of Miskolc following some (very) impolitic remarks about crime and the Roma.

But the second threat on the left involves the one issue of much greater concern to most voters: the economy. Come 2010, it is likely that Hungary will be more rather than less dependent on outside sources (read: EU) of financing to keep the economy afloat. (By a strange coincidence/conspiracy, the enormous IMF facility the country received last fall runs out a month before the next scheduled general election.) And if Fidesz is perceived by the country's foreign paymasters to be an objectively "anti-Gypsy" party, there is a very real possibility that not only would the taps be turned off after the election, but that Brussels would make it clear before the election that this could happen. If you doubt this, recall that one of the reasons Fidesz lost its re-election bid in 2002 was the feeling among many centrist voters that a Socialist-led government would get the country better terms during the final run-up to EU accession. And if there is anything more terrifying to voters than not getting money you want, it's not getting money you have already come to rely on.

Downturn hits Romania's tinkers

BBC News

Scrap metal was once a lucrative trade for Eastern European Gypsies but as Nick Thorpe reports, this has been devastated by the global economic crisis.
Melting snow has turned the unpaved roads of Zizin into streams of mud, ankle deep.

Wading through it, in search of drier ground, your ears grow accustomed quickly to the gentle murmur of the wintry village, dogs barking, cocks crowing, neighbours calling out to each other through hazel fences.

There are sharper sounds too, like the fireworks set off by children in far-off cities.

But there is no money for such frivolities in this predominantly Gypsy village.

The sounds are made by bull-whips, lengths of rope with horse-hair tied in knots at the end.

Scrap scarcity

Cracked incessantly by the kids at the end of streets, in the yards of houses, but above all on a small hill which overlooks the village.

Splitting the sky apart for a split-second, as though in the space created, poverty might be transformed into wealth, tin into gold.

Zizin - the name itself sounds like sheets of tin falling on tin. And that is how many of the Gypsies here made a living, until the global financial crisis struck.

Like millions of scrap-metal hunters and gatherers around the world, the Gypsies of eastern Europe did well from the tinkers' trade in recent years, as the price of metals soared.

A huge hunger for metal in the construction industries of India, and China in particular, fuelled the price rises. But that has all changed now.

Bridge stolen

Gypsies and non-Gypsies alike snapped up every scrap as it fell by the wayside, and today, it seems, there is little left for anyone to gather up.

As scrap became scarcer in recent years, the theft of metal became more common in eastern Europe and beyond.

One of the first Soviet locomotives in Ukraine, all 14 tonnes of it, and a metal bridge which connected a village in the west of the country to the outside world, were the most brazen thefts.

In Hungary, the re-opening of the Freedom Bridge over the Danube in Budapest, closed for many months for repairs, was postponed after thieves in eastern Hungary went off with hundreds of steel girders prepared for it.

The guttering and even the roofs of churches, and bronze plaques to Holocaust victims have all disappeared overnight.

And copper wire, used in railway signalling, was especially prized. Sixty three trains were disrupted in one day alone near Prague, when a length went missing between two main city stations.

Prices plummet

Both the Czech Republic and Hungary have now passed laws imposing strict controls on the operation of scrap metal yards. Hungary alone has 20,000.

Now everyone selling is obliged to record their identities, and full details of their loads.

But the new legislation may prove redundant. The economic downturn means people are not spending on scrap metal. Prices paid for it have fallen in some places by 90%.

From Zizin, Ion Ocelas, a father of five children with a sixth on the way, used to make the trip to the scrapyard in the nearest city, Brasov, almost daily.

Now he says it is hardly worth it. He used to get 33 euro cents (£0.29) for each kilogramme he brought in, now he is getting three cents.

Even if his horse-drawn wagon was piled high, he would only come back with a handful of small coins, less than a beggar might make for a day's pleading on the pavement outside the famous Black Church in Brasov.

"I'd like to work as a welder," he says, as he restacks the last of his metal collection - the twisted blue bonnet of a car, pots and pans, and something white and spiked, like the head of a metallic thistle - "but there's no work for welders round here, still less for Gypsy welders"

"People here have no time to think about the future," says Father Raia, an Orthodox priest of Gypsy origin, when I ask him what hope he sees. "They have to eat today."

At the main scrapyard in Brasov, buried deep in waste land beneath the girders of a new road, the manager refuses to talk.

But on the western outskirts of the Romanian capital, Bucharest, the owner of another yard, Ciprian Porumb, is happy to unburden his concerns.

Future fears

"I used to get the $450 (£300) a tonne for this," he waves his hand at a mountain of scrap, still being unloaded from lorries.

"That fell to about $150 (£100), but I dare to hope it will improve again soon."

As he speaks, a four-piece Gypsy street band, blasting on trombones and drums, marches boisterously by, serenading the ladies at the upstairs windows of the drab flats which overlook the scrapyard.

Back in Zizin, Ion's seven-year-old daughter, Rebecca, is feverish. The doctor has been called.

We leave the village as darkness falls, and an ambulance siren mixes with another orchestra of children crying, horses braying, dogs barking and always the whips, cracking in the frost.

Angry Gypsies take to the streets over posters

Saturday, 10 January 2009

Angry Roma residents of Rakamaz in northeastern Hungary took to the streets on 2 January to protest against anti-Gypsy posters plastered around the village by members of the extreme right paramilitary Magyar Gárda organisation. Some were armed with gardening equipment, and the police found one man with a samurai sword after they intervened to keep the peace. The would be swordsman is being prosecuted. The local Gárda "commander", Tamás Seres, denied this. "Some in Rakamaz believe the local Gypsy leaders want to win back voter support by trying to create conflict," he told the local news website Borsod Online. "It is unacceptable that hundreds should arm themselves, attack and lynch innocent Hungarians, and demonise the Magyar Gárda," Seres added. The spontaneous demonstration passed without incident, and the crowd of several dozen had returned home by midnight, said a police spokesman.

EUROPE: Roma Pay the Price for Far-Right Rise

By Zoltán Dujisin

BUDAPEST, Dec 29 (IPS) - The alarm bell is ringing in Central Europe: as the region braces itself for an economic crisis, extremism grows and gains popular sympathy by targeting the Roma.

The collapse of social rights in post-communist central-eastern Europe has been most harsh on the Roma, a minority that is believed to have migrated to Europe from India since the 14th century.

While anti-Roma prejudices are strong in Central Europe, so far no political force has managed to garner support by rallying the population against them. But extremists now see a window of opportunity in mobilising anti-gypsy feelings.

"The gypsy theme doesn't create political divisions, it's an everyday thing for people on the left or right, and they (extremists) are trying to use this to gain some power outside of politics," Hungarian anthropologist Gergo Pulay told IPS.

This is the case with the Hungarian Guard, a quasi-paramilitary group created in August 2007 and whose 2,000 or so members get physical training and promise to preserve Hungarian traditions and protect its citizens.

In October Czech extremists followed suit, setting up the pseudo-paramilitary National Guard, also about 2,000 member strong.

Conditions are set for a spiral of violence: extremists accuse their countries' police forces of failing to protect citizens from "gypsy crime", while members of Roma communities say they are ready to set up their own militias to protect themselves.

Several provocative marches by Hungarian Guard members in Roma-inhabited settlements have coincided with sudden new attacks on Roma inhabiting Hungarian villages. The Roma constitute 6 percent of Hungary's 10 million population.

In one incident in November, grenades were launched into a Roma-inhabited house in Pecs, 250 km south of Budapest, killing two adults and injuring two children. The Hungarian police was criticised for ruling out the possibility of a racist motive in the attack before launching an investigation. They later retracted the statement.

Such scenes are also becoming familiar to Czechs following successive clashes between extremists and the Roma in the Janov housing estate in Litvinov in the northern Czech Republic.

In one incident, supporters of the far-right Workers Party tried to invade the heavily Roma-inhabited estate Nov. 17. Policemen, extremists and locals were involved in the clashes where Molotov cocktails were thrown and police cars put on fire.

Many were appalled by the large number of elderly locals who sided with the extremists, signalling that far-right extremism is not isolated. Encouraged by signs of local support, Czech far-right supporters have spoken of further action.

There are some 300 Roma ghettos across the country. Many of them have appeared as a result of a recent spree in evictions. Approximately 80,000 inhabitants of these ghettos are often unemployed, welfare-dependent and uneducated.

Often they are moved to better quality but more isolated flats, hindering their integration in mainstream society.

In the neighbourhoods where they are placed, they are usually received with fear and suspicion by locals, feelings fed by the many Czech politicians who express blatantly anti-Roma opinions.

"I am absolutely disgusted by the latest events in Litvinov and especially by the lack of reaction from the Czech political elite," Cyril Koky from the government council for Roma affairs told media in November.

Politicians in the region, and especially in the Czech Republic, have reacted mildly to anti-gypsy incidents. They tend to depict the Roma as living off welfare and as having been overprotected under the defunct communist state.

"If they take welfare benefits and don't work, they are more likely to keep stealing from people," Istvan Kovacs, one of the few protesters willing to speak to journalists at one of the far-right rallies in Budapest told IPS.

He denies that the clearly anti-Semitic and anti-gypsy utterances of younger protesters around him are fundamentally racist. "We just need to help them become better Hungarians," he says with a kind smile.

The Hungarian Guard denies any involvement in the latest incidents. It boasts some "honorary" Jews and Roma among its ranks, and handed out Christmas presents to Roma children to fence off accusations of racism.

Extreme-right movements are beginning to relinquish Nazi symbols, opting instead for more home-grown imagery and ideological patterns, while increasing international cooperation with similar movements.

In a region where left-wing politics is stigmatised due to a failure to deal with the heritage of socialism, the anti-globalisation mood has been channelled by a nationalistic right that accuses domestic elites of selling out state property to multinational corporations.

Authorities in the region have promised to monitor the activities of such groups, especially paramilitary ones, but they have become highly skilled in avoiding breaching the law, and legal shortcomings mean that even a ban can be easily circumvented.

Moreover, far-right groups like those in Hungary intimidate opponents by publishing the full names, telephones and addresses of lawyers, judges or journalists who get in their way.

In Slovakia a far-right party has even made it into the governing coalition in 2006, and since then racially motivated crimes have increased exponentially in what some consider the result of the state legitimating xenophobic views. (END/2008)

Downturn Boosts Far-Right Groups

5:09pm UK, Tuesday December 23, 2008

Greg Milam, Europe correspondent

Far-right groups across Europe could be gaining support as the financial meltdown continues.

The warning comes at a time of increased racist violence and attacks on gypsy communities across Europe.

A far-right group called the Hungarian Guard, which has been accused of persecuting gypsies, says it will defy attempts to ban it, as governments become increasingly concerned at the rise of the right.

It is feared that extremist parties could make significant gains in European elections next June, particularly in eastern European countries.

In an interview with Sky News, a senior member of Hungary's right-wing Jobbik party said the financial crisis was making people look to parties they might once have called extremist.

Zsolt Varkonyi said: "They realise that they have been lied to by our leaders, our politicians, our economic experts, so perhaps it is time for them to listen to us.

Jobbik also defends its official links with Hungarian Guard. "It was formed because there is no security in Hungary for people in villages; they are robbed and they are killed.

"Talking about the image is just scratching the surface. What they wear, how they look, it's not really important."

Hungary has been among the countries hardest hit by the financial crisis. The government was forced to turn to the international community for an emergency bail-out.

Hungary has established its first national police force to deal specifically with crimes against the Roma gypsy community.

Political analyst Krisztian Szabados told Sky News: "We expect that public support for right wing extremists, which has been around 1%, will rise to at least 7%. We expect violent clashes between right-wing extremists and the gypsy population."

There have also been significant increases in violent racist attacks reported in the Czech Republic and Italy.

Hungary's far-right to defy court

A far-right group in Hungary accused of persecuting the Roma (Gypsies) minority has said it will defy a court order banning the organisation.

The Hungarian Guard Association said it was a movement not a party and could not be dissolved by a court order.

The organisation regularly marches in uniform through Roma-populated areas in protest at what it calls "Gypsy crime".

On Tuesday, a Budapest court ordered the group to be dismantled for racial discrimination against the Roma.

The Hungarian government and Roma groups welcomed the verdict.

But the Guard Association - which claims to have 1,500 adherents - said it would continue its activities as before.

The group's president, Gabor Vona, told the BBC that the court ruling was a blow to Hungarian democracy.

"As with all previous attacks, this will only increase the number of our recruits," Mr Vona said.

Critics say the association - which was formed last year - is fascist, but its supporters describe it as patriotic.

Budapest court rules to dissolve paramilitary Hungarian Guard

The Budapest Municipal Court ruled on Tuesday to dissolve the right wing paramilitary Hungarian Guard.

The court judge, while explaining the decision, referred to a march staged by the group last December in Tatarszentgyorgy and said that speeches about "Gypsy crime" made during the event had insulted the dignity of the local Roma minority, the Hungarian News Agency MTI reported.

The judge said that Hungary's public dignitaries and the parliamentary parties had all condemned the event and such speeches.

The general public might be misled to get an impression that "here comes the Guard and it will restore order," which cannot be accepted under the constitution, the judge said.

Triggering fear in itself was a violation to the rights of others, the judge said.

Gabor Vona, chairman of the Hungarian Guard, said that his group would appeal against the rule.

Thousands in countryside rally against "Gypsy violence"

By: MTI
2008-12-01 09:23

Over 3,000 people joined a torchlight march in Kiskunlachaza, about 45 km south of Budapest, on Friday night, in a protest against violence after a 14-year-old local girl was murdered there a week ago.

The town's mayor Jozsef Repas addressed the gathering, lamenting the decline in public safety in the settlement. Although the murderer or murderers have not been identified, Repas said: "Kiskunlachaza has had enough of Roma violence!" He also said that police were often branded "racist" if they tried to act.

Participants in the march were not all local. Some came from nearby Rackeve, others from more distant towns. A 200-300-person contingent from the right wing paramilitary Hungarian Guard attended as did some members of a motorcycle group known as the Goy Motorcyclists.

There was a heavy police presence and searches of some of the marchers yielded knives and daggers.

County police are continuing their investigation of the murder. They declined to give details of new evidence, saying that if the information were made public it could influence the investigation.

Two Roma die in Hungary shooting

Police in Hungary are investigating the deaths of two people in a shooting that a Roma (Gypsy) member of the European Parliament is calling a racist attack.

The victims were a Roma man and a woman in their 40s, who were shot through the window of a house in the village of Nagycsecs, in north-eastern Hungary.

Petrol bombs were thrown inside before the shots were fired, police said.

The Hungarian MEP, Viktoria Mohacsi, said she had evidence pointing to a "racist motivation" for the attack.

A second house was also attacked early on Monday, police said.

Other Roma properties had been firebombed in north-eastern Hungary before Monday's incident.

A spokesman for Hungary's National Gypsy Authority, Janos Bogdan, was quoted as saying two pubs run by Roma in nearby Sajoszoged and Sajooros had been attacked with petrol bombs overnight on Sunday, shortly before the Nagycsecs attack.

Nagycsecs has some 1,000 residents, many of whom are Roma, the Budapest Times newspaper reports.

Extremists increase their influence over society

Written by Political Capital & the Hungarian Anti-Racist Foundation
Sunday, 19 October 2008

The past two years have brought a quality change in anti-Semitic and racist public discourse in Hungary. Far right activism since the autumn of 2006, racist reactions to the incident at Olaszliszka and the emergence of the Hungarian Guard have crossed lines in Hungarian public life that in the past for the most part managed to check the public articulation of prejudices.

These developments have greatly increased the far right's potential social base and political scope for action. Increasingly open anti-Semitism entering the public arena continues to be a major identity-building force for the radical right. With all that, steadily rising tension between the Roma and non-Roma populations, clearly the country's major social conflict, represents a much larger threat in Hungary. Increasing conflicts between a majority and a minority are often an inevitable concomitant (and catalyst) in the struggle for social equality. However, to current situation does not point in the direction of a solution thanks simultaneously to the head-in-the-sand policies followed by parliamentary parties, the lack of adequate government programs, the aggressive symbolic actions of the Hungarian Guard, as well as the weak identity of Hungary's Roma population and a resulting low organizational level.

(MORE)

National Gypsy Authority leader waives Árpád-striped flag

Buried in the news from Saturday's demonstrations by the left and the participants of the Peppermint-striped Budapest Destruction Brigade was a small thing said by Orbán Kolompár, (left), the head of Hungary's National Gypsy Authority. Even though it only received a small mention in Index.hu's minute-by-minute update, Kolompár, indirectly referencing the poet Sándor Petőfi, said the flag "is our historical flag, and we'll remove the shame from it." (The reference is fairly obvious in Hungarian.) At first receiving whistles, once people understood what Kolompár was doing, they quieted. Indeed, what Kolompár did is something I've waited to see for a long time.

(MORE)

Grappling with a Roma identity

By Steve Bradshaw
Executive Producer, Life on the Edge

It was just a passing remark, the first time I heard Arpad Bogdan talk about the Roma father who had left him in an orphanage, and wonder if he should try to find him.

We were drinking late at night in a semi-derelict house in a Budapest side street. We had skipped over bicycles and rubbish to make our way inside. I should say this was not a doss house but a trendy Urban Minimalism club.

"He doesn't have to tell you this you know," whispered our mutual friend, director Antonia Meszaros. And it was then that I realised how conflicted Arpad is - how much of a dilemma his Roma inheritance has created.

Arpad is a much-garlanded young film director, whose feature film Happy New Life has won many awards. It is about a young Roma man's unbearable childhood in an orphanage. In the end, he can't hack it - unlike Arpad who emerged from his own orphanage into the University of Pecs and a promising film career.

"My film," Arpad says, "is about the dilemmas of someone who realises that in order to face the future, he must come to terms with his past - and that's something that I still have to do in my own life."

Arpad was one of thousands of Roma - or gypsy - children who were taken into orphanages during Hungary's Communist years. The truth is cloudy here, but it seems that in some cases their parents wanted this, in many they didn't.

(MORE)

Roma protest loaded survey question on "gypsy crime"

By MTI

The head of the National Roma Council has protested against a survey published on Wednesday which had juxtaposed the words "gypsy" and "crime" in a question.

Orban Kolompar slammed Nezopont Institute's survey, which found that 91 percent of those asked said they thought "gypsy crime" was a real issue. Kolompar said that the term was unacceptable and that the question was an incitement of hatred against the Roma minority.

Agoston Samuel Mraz, who directed Nezopont's survey in question, told MTI that his institute had applied the phrase because it was used both in public discourse and in sociology.

He noted that 77 percent of respondents in the survey thought Roma people were more inclined to commit crimes than others. "Nezopont thinks that reducing such a high level of prejudice is an urgent public responsibility," he said.

The slogan "gypsy crime" was used with increased frequency by far-right groups after a driver, whose car hit a Roma girl but did not hurt her, was lynched by the girl's family members in October 2006.

Following the incident, public dignitaries, politicians, criminal experts and Roma officials joined in protest against using the derogatory term and against efforts to stigmatise the Roma community.

Extremist group holds anti-crime rally in Hugnary, critics call it an attack on Gypsies

2008-01-18 21:22:05 -

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) - A small extremist group rallied Friday in the Hungarian capital to protest what it said was a rising crime rate, but which critics said was a veiled attack on the country's Gypsies.

Some 50 members of the Hungarian Guard and around 200 supporters attended the short, torch-lit march to a high school near where an 18-year-old student was attacked last week by a 17-year-old classmate described in Hungarian media as a Gypsy. The victim reportedly suffered a skull fracture and died shortly after returning home.

The Guard was formed last year and has about 700 members. Its uniform has elements which resemble those used by the Arrow Cross, a pro-Nazi, World War II militia.
Budapest prosecutors have asked a local court to disband the Guard because of legal irregularities.

President Laszlo Solyom last month refused to meet with the group, describing an earlier rally as «immensely damaging,» saying they created an atmosphere which made it more difficult for Gypsies _ or Roma _ to integrate into Hungarian society.

On Friday, a Guard's official said the anti-crime rally wanted to call attention to «real problems in society ... for which the current political elite is responsible.

«We don't aim to solve these problems by violent means and we don't want to be police, that is a duty of the state,» Istvan Dosa said. «But there is an ethnic bomb ticking in the country which can explode at any time.

After Dosa's speech, a woman read out a list of crimes committed in Hungary in the past months _ at least some of which are known to have involved Roma. Some Guard supporters shouted «Gypsy criminals» and «Gypsy crimes» after every description _ even though the reader never used those words herself.

There are an estimated 600,000-800,000 Roma among Hungary's population of 10 million. They are among the poorest and least educated citizens. While there are no official statistics, U.N. Habitat, a humanitarian agency, estimated that up to 60 percent of male inmates in Hungarian prisons are Roma.

Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky said the Guard's protest was actually aimed at «intimidating the Roma living in Budapest «(Friday's) act is aimed against democratic values, human rights, tolerance and the religious and ethnic minorities until now living peacefully in Budapest,» Demszky said in a statement ahead of the march.

Hungary: Gypsy school segregation persists

Posted : Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:21:11 GMT
Author : World News Editor

BUDAPEST, Hungary, Jan. 4 Despite government efforts to eradicate it, separation of Gypsies in school classrooms in Hungary appears as a deep-rooted problem difficult to resolve.

The Hungarian government has invested heavily in education but some sociologists argue that extra money for schools in disadvantaged regions could be blamed for the enduring problem of the Romany, or Gypsy, segregation, the Hungarian news agency MTI reported Friday.

State-run schools receiving extra funding through the government's integration program are not popular with middle-class parents, who often withdraw their children to send them to better schools, the Hungarian national daily Nepszabadsag said.

The parents' choice leaves those schools with a majority of Gypsies and the program, aimed at integrating disadvantaged children with their "mainstream peers" actually collapses, the newspaper said.

Attila Z. Papp, a researcher of the Educational Survey Council, said a local town mayor told him that segregation perhaps was the only solution.

Gabor Daroczi, a former government commissioner for Romany integration, said integration would stand a chance if people supported the program. But, it is the sad truth that a majority of the society supports segregation, Nepszabadsag reported.

Copyright 2008 by UPI

Hungary's chief justice defends Gypsies

BUDAPEST, Hungary, Dec. 12 Hungary's chief justice has asked lawmakers to work out more efficient laws to safeguard the dignity of the Gypsy, or Romany, community.

Zoltan Lomnici, president of the Hungarian Supreme Court in Budapest Wednesday denounced a recent march by a far-right paramilitary organization aimed at intimidating the Gypsy minority in the country, the Hungarian news agency MTI reported.

Lomnici, responding to a letter by Erno Kallai, the minority ombudsman, said any discrimination by race, religion or gender is unconstitutional and unacceptable.

Some 300 members of the neo-Nazi Hungarian Guard, sporting black dress and carrying red-and-white striped banners, in a hate showing move Sunday marched through a predominantly Gypsy village outside Budapest.

Kallai's letter appealed to politicians and public officials to take stand on the Sunday neo-Nazi march.

Lomnici reiterated Hungary needed amended laws that would easily cope with any actions displaying hatred and threats towards Gypsies and other national minorities.

He confirmed he had already sent proposals relating to his ideas to the parliament's constitutional and judicial committees.

Gypsy child 27 times more likely to be in 'special' school

Written by Sean Sampson
Monday, 19 November 2007

Czech separate schooling illegal

Gypsy children in the Czech Republic must be taught in mainstream schools and not separately, the European Court of Human Rights decided last week.

The Strasbourg-based court found that the Czech authorities had discriminated against 18 Roma children in Ostrava (eastern Czech Republic) by educating them in schools for children with learning difficulties irrespective of their level of intelligence.

Discriminatory argument wins

Lawyers acting for the Roma litigants successfully argued that the practice of separate schooling was in violation of article 14 of the European Convention of Human Rights, which bans discrimination.

“The court has made clear that racial discrimination has no place in 21st century Europe,” said James A. Goldston, counsel for the plaintiffs and executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative.

“Roma children must have the same access to quality education as everyone else,” he added.


Cosmetic changes won’t do

Although the Czech Republic has reformed its education system since the Roma first complained, there is widespread suspicion that the changes are merely cosmetic and that the practice continues with renamed schools. In its judgement the court noted that the practice is widespread in other European countries.

The court ordered the Czech government to pay each of the successful litigants EUR 4,000 in damages.

Gypsy children are 27 times more likely than other Czech citizens to end up being educated in a special school, according the European Roma Rights Centre. According to Viktória Móhácsi, an MEP, 60% of Roma children in Hungary are in segregated schooling.

Hungarian Gypsy authority meeting ends in disarray

By: Hungary Around the Clock
2007-03-14 10:21:00

Lungo Drom chairman Flórián Farkas vowed to take legal action on Tuesday after the inaugural session of the National Gypsy Authority degenerated into a debacle, prompting Lungo Drom representatives to walk out of the meeting held at Duna Palota.

The storm erupted when Lungo Drom representative János Kozák was elected National Gypsy Authority leader, rather than the expected Farkas, after the 25-strong Forum of Hungarian Gypsy Organisations nominated the former.

The meeting was adjourned and Lungo Drom deputies walked out of the hall. Forum officials and two Lungo Drom members continued proceedings and elected Kozák. Outgoing chairman Orbán Kolompár said "Farkas left because he could not accept someone else being nominated as chairman."

Farkas threatened to take legal action and said he expects the public administrative office to void the decisions made at the meeting.

Gypsy authority urging hate speech law

Budapest, February 1 (MTI) - Hungary's National Gypsy Authority (OCO) on Thursday urged parliament to renew its attempts to pass legislation against hate speech, the authority's chairman Orban Kolompar told reporters.

There has been an increased number of verbal attacks against the Roma minority in recent months, said Kolompar. Legislation is therefore needed to class hate speech as a crime, he insisted.

Early last year, the Constitutional Court nullified a law against hate speech adopted by Parliament, finding it unconstitutional. The rejected law would have expanded the scope of punishable acts, by inserting the phrase "incitement to hatred" to replace "instigation" in the Penal Code.

Kolompar argued that it was not enough to say that "the majority of people reject statements inciting hatred". Legal means are also needed against people, groups, organisations or parties that made openly offensive, racist remarks, he said.

OCO calls on the main opposition Fidesz party and allied Roma organisation Lungo Drom to distance themselves from extreme right organisations, such as Jobbik, which made provocative statements last week suggesting a high ratio of criminal activities committed by members of the Roma community, OCO Spokesman Janos Bogdan, Jr. said.