Romanian extremists vandalise cemetery of Hungarian heroes?
Police complaints were lodged on Monday by Csaba Borboly, Harghita County Council President, and Sándor Birtalan, Mayor of Sânmartin (Csíkszentmárton), after unknown persons vandalised information boards at the military cemetery in Valea Uzului (Úzvölgye), Romania. Mostly Hungarian soldiers are buried in the cemetery.
The Harghita County Municipality said in a statement that the incidents were detected on Monday and a complaint was filed with the county police for damage to public property, a Hungarian tabloid, Blikk, reported.
The information boards installed on the brick fence of the cemetery contain information in Hungarian and Romanian about the history of the area and the battles fought in the valley of Úz. According to the photos taken on site, more than a third of one of the signs has been broken by unknown perpetrators.
The municipalities concerned are asking for the authorities’ help in identifying those responsible for the damage, for legal action and for information on the progress of the investigation. They stress the importance of a swift and effective investigation of the case in order to maintain public order and safety and to respect public property.
This is the second police complaint in a month about the international military cemetery by the municipalities concerned. A few weeks ago, the mayor’s office of Sânmartin filed a criminal complaint with the Harghita County Police about the putting up of crosses at the cemetery on 8 July.
On 8 July, supporters of the Path of the Nation (Calea Neamului) and other Romanian organisations erected 150 wooden crosses in the international military cemetery to replace the concrete ones removed on 29 June. The smaller crosses, wrapped in Romanian national ribbon, were accompanied by a large one and a flagpole with the Romanian flag on it, the Hungarian News Agency, MTI, reported.
Be aware that Russia is doing everything it can to stoke ethnic conflict in eastern Europe to divide countries against each other. In Zakarpattia a Hungarian cultural centre was attacked twice in 2018. Investigation showed that the first explosion was done by a group of Poles with Russian connections and the second was a purely Russian job. No conclusion should be made that what took place in the cemetery was by Romanian extremists without some evidence. It may be more likely this was a “Russian job.”