Thanks to enormous police presence and the human right activists on the spot, the demonstration of the Jobbik party against Gypsies in Hejőszalonta passed off without any atrocities and confrontations on Saturday. Contrary to previous cases, the mayor of the village supported the Gypsies and their friends. The legal aid activists and the Gypsy counterdemonstrators answered to the anti-Gypsy statements of Jobbik by singing the national anthem of Hungary. Representatives of the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Amnesty International took part in the demonstration against the ‘Guard’s’ demonstration in Hejőszalonta. Ulrike Lunacek, member of the Greens Group in the European Parliament was among the demonstrators. She explained that they were completely dissatisfied with the human rights policy of the Orbán government, especially with the policy offending the Gypsy minority, which is being discussed in the European Parliament this week. Ulrike Lunacek told that she was going to report in the European Parliament on the fundamental civil rights jeopardized by the anti-Gypsy demonstration in Hejőszalonta. The Hungarian Minister of Interior pledged in the electoral campaign last spring to tidy up the country in two weeks.

Last Updated on Thursday, 14 April 2011 23:07