The persecution of Szekler flag continues in Romania

The Covasna County Prefect’s Office recently ordered the Szekler flag to be removed from a monument in Micfalău/Mikóújfalu. Officials from the prefect’s office were conducting a routine inspection at the local council, when they noticed the Szekler flag hoisted on the monument dedicated to the memory of the soldiers that died in the First and Second World Wars.

This decision is just the latest one in a series of measures taken by government officials and nationalist activists against the Szekler flag. After numerous unfavourable court rulings, it is currently forbidden to raise the Szekler flag in public spaces. Thus, given the unlikeliness of succeeding in court, the mayor of Micfalău/Mikóújfalu, Ferenc DEMETER, decided not to appeal the decision, and following the example of other localities from Szeklerland facing the same issue, he said they will move the flag to the churchyard.

Despite the fact that in its annual reports on Romania the US State Department continually draws attention to the vicious persecution of minority symbols, Romanian authorities keep pursuing their relentless campaign against the Szekler flag, the Transylvanian flag and other regional and minority symbols. This “visceral opposition”, as described by the president of the Covasna County Council, Sándor TAMÁS, should be unacceptable in a country that prides itself on having an exemplary minority policy.

Source: The Mikó Imre Minority Rights Legal Services Assistance