‘Put Hungary in order’: Far-right party mixes anti-crime promises with open racism

Criminals must be exiled from Hungarian society, the leader of the Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) party said at a demonstration in Szolnok, in eastern Hungary.

“We must put Hungary in order”

“We must show that, instead of the … liberal logic ruling Hungary since the ’90s, criminals have no say in this country,” László Toroczkai told a crowd of some 500 people demonstrating against crime.

Mi Hazánk has prepared a petition, but the government office declined to receive it. Toroczkai said only criminals had to fear a Mi Hazánk government, “honest people have nothing to worry about.”

Recently, “a gang of career criminals, organised along family lines, has attacked a club in Szolnok,” Toroczkai said. The gang attacked the five-man security service, “while the state enforcement agencies took a long time to arrive,” he said. “We want to protect the Hungarians left to their own devices, not only with marches and demonstrations but with crime hunters. We must put Hungary in order,” he said.

Open racism at the far-right event

“We are very close to turning the tables and to getting a say in leading Hungary,” Toroczkai said. Zsolt Tyirityán, the leader of the paramilitary group Betyársereg (a far-right group), held a speech at the demonstration and called the protection of Roma rights “a form of below-human existence”. Roma rights activists are in denial about “the fact that hating Hungarians is in fashion among many of the Roma,” he said.

Many Roma people left Szolnok during the demonstration

Members of the local Roma community told a HVG reporter on the scene that many had left the city for the duration of the demonstration, while others held a forum. Some of those who spoke to the reporter said they were afraid of Mi Hazánk supporters, while others said they had been unable to sleep for days.