Message to illegal immigrants from Hungary

While images of Hungarian riot police officers firing tear gas and water cannons at migrants along the Serbian border on Wednesday appalled human rights activists, the mayor of one small town in the south of Hungary remains concerned that his nation might still seem too welcoming to those fleeing war or poverty.

To remedy this, Laszlo Toroczkai, an ultranationalist with a flair for the dramatic, released a personal “Message to illegal immigrants from Hungary” on Facebook and YouTube late Wednesday, threatening them with arrest and displaying his town’s security hardware in a video edited in the style of a big-budget action movie.

nytimes.com

Budapest protest against new Hungary constitution

Tens of thousands of people have been protesting in Budapest over Hungary's controversial new constitution, a day after it came into force. The country's governing Fidesz party pushed the law through parliament in April after winning a two-thirds majority in parliamentary elections.

Opponents say it threatens democracy by removing checks and balances set up in 1989 when Communism fell. The EU and US had also asked for the law to be withdrawn. The dispute has cast doubt over talks on a new financing agreement with the EU and IMF, seen as vital for market confidence in the central European country.

Several centre-left opposition parties joined in the protests, held near a gala event organised by the government to celebrate the new constitution. The governing Fidesz party controls 68% of seats in parliament, but the streets now belong to the opposition. Nearly every day there are new demonstrations against one aspect or another of government policy - the new constitution, economic policy, the centralisation of the state media, or the closing of an opposition radio station.

Protesters chanted slogans denouncing the centre-right Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, and carried placards denouncing his "dictatorship" as officials arrived for the event. "Viktor Orban and his servants turned Hungary from a promising place to the darkest spot in Europe," said Socialist MP Tibor Szanyi, quoted by AFP news agency.

BBC News

Hungarian Right-wing vigilantes take over Roma neighbourhood

On March 1st, uniformed members of the vigilante group Civil Guard (Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület), an offshoot of the dreaded Magyar Garda, took control of a Romani neighbourhood in the village of Gyöngyöspata. They set up two checkpoints at the entrance to the neighbourhood and formed a human chain around the houses of Romani residents. The Civil Guard are supported by the right-wing Jobbik party, and now intend to set up chapters in other towns in Hungary, to expand their patrols.

The European Roma Rights Centre, Amnesty International and Human Rights First sent a letter [PDF] urging Hungarian authorities to intervene and protect the Romani residents of Gyöngyöspata from the intimidation and harassment they have been subjected to by the vigilante organisation, Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület (Civil Guard Association for a Better Future), since 1 March. The Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület patrols have been supported by the far-right political party Jobbik, which organised a march of thousands through the village in black military uniform on 6 March. According to the ERRC’s monitoring, there were at least 48 attacks against Roma in Hungary between 2008 and 2010, which resulted in at least 9 deaths. The presence of anti-Roma vigilante groups in Roma neighbourhoods adds to growing inter-ethnic tensions and fuels a climate of violence.

The ERRC called for Hungarian authorities to fulfil their domestic and international human rights obligations in Gyöngyöspata, to intervene immediately to ensure the situation does not escalate into physical violence and to protect the Roma from intimidation and harassment.

mir.indymedia.org

Rights Groups Demand Protection for Hungarian Roma - ERRC.org - European Roma Rights Centre