VIDEO: Four suspects detained over violent attacks in Budapest

Budapest police have taken into custody two German citizens, an Italian and a Hungarian, who they suspect of carrying out attacks in the capital in the past few days using telescopic stun batons and knuckle dusters.

Police suspect that 10-15 people have carried out violent attacks in public spaces in Budapest lately, possibly as part of a gang.

In four attacks carried out by eight people, eight were injured, three seriously, Béla Nyerges, the head of BRFK’s investigations unit, told a press conference on Monday. In an attack on Thursday, Polish tourists were beaten, two of whom suffered serious injuries. A German couple was also attacked, while a single male was also beaten in a separate attack and suffered serious injuries.

The police are investigating whether the attacks were linked, he added.

The investigations revealed that the victims were all wearing camouflage or black clothes and some of them boots, Nyerges said, adding that the perpetrators, half of them women, had kept tabs on them.

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Nyerges said the German and Italian suspects were refusing to cooperate or communicate with detectives, while a Hungarian woman denied any involvement in the attacks.

Nyerges did not confirm press reports that the perpetrators were members or sympathisers of radical left-wing international movements who had arrived in Budapest “to confront participants” of a far-right commemoration marking the anniversary of the Nazi breakout of the Castle District during the siege of Budapest on Feb. 11, 1945.

A court decision regarding whether to place the four suspects in pre-trial detention is expected on Tuesday, he said.