Football ultras beat Hungarians in Romania because they used their language with each other!

“Intolerable! Hungarian youth were beaten in Cluj Napoca (Kolozsvár) on Monday evening only because they talked in Hungarian”, Hunor Kelemen, the leader of the most popular Hungarian party in Romania, wrote about the issue in a Facebook post. He also promised to turn to the interior minister to punish the perpetrators, the football ultras of a local club. The club expressed its regret for what happened.

Hunor Kelemen: their only “sin” was talking in Hungarian in Romania

According to Kelemen, the president of the RMDSZ (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania), after the latest duel of the CFR Cluj and Universitatea Cluj, two local rivals, Hungarian youth were beaten on the streets of Kolozsvár, the former seat of Transylvania, the second biggest city of Romania. Their sole “sin” was that they talked in Hungarian while peacefully walking home. As a result, many Hungarians suffered serious injuries. Kelemen said such atrocities were not isolated.

“No! Until Hungarians are harmed, only because they are talking in Hungarian, our community is not completely safe“, he highlighted. He said that is where the extremist anti-Hungarian Romanian parties could lead the country, while the state remained silent and blind. Everybody should be punished for hate speech, regardless of being a politician or a media personality. He also promised to give all necessary support to the families and loved ones of the injured youth.

What happened in Kolozsvár?

According to Fanatik magazine, one of the injured was 19 years old. He and two of his mates were walking home from the football match when some ultras of the Universitate heard they were talking in Hungarian, so they attacked them on the beach of the River Szamos (Somes). The 19-year-old was hit in the head with a bottle, so his face had to be sewn together in four places. Another boy was hit on his knee, while the other was punched in the face with a fist.

The Hungarian boys were not the only victims of the ultras. According to Stiri de Cluj, a local news outlet, the ultras beat a 14-year-old and his two friends near the Elizabeth Bridge. The article did not share the nationality of the victims. The 14-year-old was taken to a hospital.

Extremist Romanian parties generate conflict

Botond Csoma, an MP of RMDSZ in Kolozs (Cluj) County, said in a speech in the Romanian Parliament that what happened was the result of the hate campaign led by the Romanian extremist parties. He also asked the interior minister to punish the perpetrators.

In a statement, Universitatea Cluj expressed regret for the “incidents” and commitment to fair play and the university spirit, rejecting all kinds of aggression. They also expressed hope that the authorities would examine what happened.

The rivalry between CFR Cluj and Universitatea Cluj has been an issue for decades in the Transylvanian city populated by tens of thousands of Hungarians. The rivalry does not have an ethnic aspect, but CFR has Hungarian fans who regularly become victims of the aggression of Universitate’s fans.

We wrote before about a 20-year-old Hungarian who was stabbed in Bratislava because he talked in Hungarian with his friends.

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