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Roma women, children evacuated from Hungarian village over fear of vigilantes
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Nearly 300 left
János Farkas, Deputy Chairman of the Roma Civic Rights Movement and head of the local Roma community, said they moved out 276 women and children from Gyöngyöspata (some 80 km northeast of Budapest) with the help of the Hungarian Red Cross.
Erik Selymes, head of the HRC told local newswire MTI the residents of the village asked their help already on Tuesday to take local Roma woman and children camping. Aladár Horváth, head of the Roma Civic Rights Movement, said the costs of the bus trip were covered by a private individual that wished to remain anonymous.
Index.hu reported that while it was the Hungarian Red Cross that executed the mission, one of the people who came up with the idea of the evacuation was Richard Field, an American business man who lives in Hungary.
Field is the President of the American House Foundation and regularly co-operates with the Hungarian Red Cross to help the needy. In the 2010 election campaign Field supported green party LMP and another political organisation called Civil Movement. Field said this time he has not supported the mission financially.
Not the first time
Roma women and children living in Gyöngyöspata fled to their relatives about a month ago when far-right vigilante group, the Civil Guard Association For A Brighter Future, entered the village and conducted foot and car patrols, followed Roma around and stopped them from entering shops. Far-right parliamentary party Jobbik also held a “demonstration for the Hungarians" in the village last month. Selymes said the travel to relatives consumed up nearly their whole family allowance therefore they were forced to turn to the Red Cross this time.
Farkas told local news portal origo.hu that the camping until Sunday evening was organised to make sure the children are safe. He would not disclose the locations here the evacuees were taken to, but Origo learned that some of them are in Budapest in the Csillebérc camp.
“We had to leave or they’d have killed us," a middle-aged Roma woman told origo. The Roma in the camp said they left Gyöngyöspata in six buses and that 176 of them arrived to Csillebérc.
It is the first time - since WWII!
“The objective of the Easter camping is to give the children a good experience and ease the ethnic tensions that arose over the past two months," the Red Cross said.
Farkas said they feared confrontations with a vigilante group called Véderő, and that the village, where several groups of men dressed in camouflage gear have been carrying out patrols in the past weeks, is "practically a battlefield."
An official of the HRC told dpa this is the first time since World War II that the organisation is evacuating civilians that are threatened by a paramilitary group.
István Mezei, manager of the Roma national soccer team told origo “this is both an excursion and an escape, but mostly the latter."
Government reaction: Evacuation? Nonsense!
Péter Szijjártó, spokesman for PM Viktor Orbán said reports “are obvious lies" that speak about “any kind of emergency evacuation or any such thing". Szijjártó said it was only by chance that the Roma left for a holiday organised earlier with Red Cross participation this Friday.
Field told Index the evacuation was organised exactly because the camp Véderő organized for these three days.
“[...] you can call this an excursion all you want but it is clear that the Roma women and children were evacuated because the Véderő movement’s military camp."
Seeking asylum
Farkas told Index the Roma population of the village are seeking political asylum in the United States and Canada and have already filed the papers at the Budapest embassies of these countries. They have also turned for help in a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama and the top institutions of the European Union, he added.
Farkas said 400-450 Roma living in Gyöngyöspata want to leave the country.
“We have no future here. Véderő bought the plot adjacent to by house, they’re harassing my family. We can’t live like this; we can’t even celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ because we are under constant threat," Farkas said.
The U.S. Embassy in Budapest has not responded yet to the asylum claim, but it had already issued a statement about the events in Gyöngyöspata, saying “the embassy is closely monitoring the events in Gyöngyöspata and other locations in northeast Hungary." It also said in the statement that “inciting hatred and intimidating minority groups is unacceptable."
The meek shall inherit the earth
Véderő (Defense Force) was established in September 2008 “for the defense of Hungary", aiming to fill in a void after conscription was abolished in Hungary.
Véderő said on its website, which is now blocked (!), that during its three-day camp in Gyöngyöspata it will prepare youth for self-defence, and those interested should bring along boxing gloves and Airsoft weapons. The programme includes weapons training, night fighting, tactical training and other the teaching of military skills.
Who is the enemy?
"United, we will be strong and we can protect the nation from internal and external enemies alike," it said on its website.
The various vigilante groups enjoy the backing of the far right party Jobbik, which gained 46 seats in Hungary's 386-member Parliament in last year's election and says the government has not done enough to ensure public safety.
Tamás Eszes, chief commander of Véderő said in an interview after the establishment of the organisation that while they do not engage in politics they do "walk around with their eyes open."
“We know it very well that a part of the Jewish community developed an industry called Holocaust and has been making quite a living out of it and still wants to. And those who wish to contradict the horrific numbers factually and with hard evidence - justifiably I’d like to add - they [the Jews] either make the life of these people impossible or put them in jail."
But wait, he is not quite finished! Not yet.
“Véderő and myself do not deny Holocaust itself, because it had really happened. What we do not believe is merely the magnitude of the numbers and the false statements. Based on evidence we know that the Jewish speculators are highly exaggerating," Eszes said, referring to the number of Jews exterminated in WWII.
“We don’t understand why they want to force the culture and customs of another nation on us? Why do the Hungarian people have to mourn over the deceased of another country? We have enough dead of our own, we should mourn over those!"
János Farkas, Deputy Chairman of the Roma Civic Rights Movement and head of the local Roma community, said they moved out 276 women and children from Gyöngyöspata (some 80 km northeast of Budapest) with the help of the Hungarian Red Cross.
Erik Selymes, head of the HRC told local newswire MTI the residents of the village asked their help already on Tuesday to take local Roma woman and children camping. Aladár Horváth, head of the Roma Civic Rights Movement, said the costs of the bus trip were covered by a private individual that wished to remain anonymous.
Index.hu reported that while it was the Hungarian Red Cross that executed the mission, one of the people who came up with the idea of the evacuation was Richard Field, an American business man who lives in Hungary.
Field is the President of the American House Foundation and regularly co-operates with the Hungarian Red Cross to help the needy. In the 2010 election campaign Field supported green party LMP and another political organisation called Civil Movement. Field said this time he has not supported the mission financially.
Not the first time
Roma women and children living in Gyöngyöspata fled to their relatives about a month ago when far-right vigilante group, the Civil Guard Association For A Brighter Future, entered the village and conducted foot and car patrols, followed Roma around and stopped them from entering shops. Far-right parliamentary party Jobbik also held a “demonstration for the Hungarians" in the village last month. Selymes said the travel to relatives consumed up nearly their whole family allowance therefore they were forced to turn to the Red Cross this time.
Farkas told local news portal origo.hu that the camping until Sunday evening was organised to make sure the children are safe. He would not disclose the locations here the evacuees were taken to, but Origo learned that some of them are in Budapest in the Csillebérc camp.
“We had to leave or they’d have killed us," a middle-aged Roma woman told origo. The Roma in the camp said they left Gyöngyöspata in six buses and that 176 of them arrived to Csillebérc.
It is the first time - since WWII!
“The objective of the Easter camping is to give the children a good experience and ease the ethnic tensions that arose over the past two months," the Red Cross said.
Farkas said they feared confrontations with a vigilante group called Véderő, and that the village, where several groups of men dressed in camouflage gear have been carrying out patrols in the past weeks, is "practically a battlefield."
An official of the HRC told dpa this is the first time since World War II that the organisation is evacuating civilians that are threatened by a paramilitary group.
István Mezei, manager of the Roma national soccer team told origo “this is both an excursion and an escape, but mostly the latter."
Government reaction: Evacuation? Nonsense!
Péter Szijjártó, spokesman for PM Viktor Orbán said reports “are obvious lies" that speak about “any kind of emergency evacuation or any such thing". Szijjártó said it was only by chance that the Roma left for a holiday organised earlier with Red Cross participation this Friday.
Field told Index the evacuation was organised exactly because the camp Véderő organized for these three days.
“[...] you can call this an excursion all you want but it is clear that the Roma women and children were evacuated because the Véderő movement’s military camp."
Seeking asylum
Farkas told Index the Roma population of the village are seeking political asylum in the United States and Canada and have already filed the papers at the Budapest embassies of these countries. They have also turned for help in a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama and the top institutions of the European Union, he added.
Farkas said 400-450 Roma living in Gyöngyöspata want to leave the country.
“We have no future here. Véderő bought the plot adjacent to by house, they’re harassing my family. We can’t live like this; we can’t even celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ because we are under constant threat," Farkas said.
The U.S. Embassy in Budapest has not responded yet to the asylum claim, but it had already issued a statement about the events in Gyöngyöspata, saying “the embassy is closely monitoring the events in Gyöngyöspata and other locations in northeast Hungary." It also said in the statement that “inciting hatred and intimidating minority groups is unacceptable."
The meek shall inherit the earth
Véderő (Defense Force) was established in September 2008 “for the defense of Hungary", aiming to fill in a void after conscription was abolished in Hungary.
Véderő said on its website, which is now blocked (!), that during its three-day camp in Gyöngyöspata it will prepare youth for self-defence, and those interested should bring along boxing gloves and Airsoft weapons. The programme includes weapons training, night fighting, tactical training and other the teaching of military skills.
Who is the enemy?
"United, we will be strong and we can protect the nation from internal and external enemies alike," it said on its website.
The various vigilante groups enjoy the backing of the far right party Jobbik, which gained 46 seats in Hungary's 386-member Parliament in last year's election and says the government has not done enough to ensure public safety.
Tamás Eszes, chief commander of Véderő said in an interview after the establishment of the organisation that while they do not engage in politics they do "walk around with their eyes open."
“We know it very well that a part of the Jewish community developed an industry called Holocaust and has been making quite a living out of it and still wants to. And those who wish to contradict the horrific numbers factually and with hard evidence - justifiably I’d like to add - they [the Jews] either make the life of these people impossible or put them in jail."
But wait, he is not quite finished! Not yet.
“Véderő and myself do not deny Holocaust itself, because it had really happened. What we do not believe is merely the magnitude of the numbers and the false statements. Based on evidence we know that the Jewish speculators are highly exaggerating," Eszes said, referring to the number of Jews exterminated in WWII.
“We don’t understand why they want to force the culture and customs of another nation on us? Why do the Hungarian people have to mourn over the deceased of another country? We have enough dead of our own, we should mourn over those!"
