The house and car of Esztergom Mayor Tamás Meggyes were set on fire in separate locations early Tuesday morning, reports conservative daily Magyar Nemzet. Nobody was injured, because the building was new and the family was yet to move in.
According to the daily, Meggyes woke at around 3:45 a.m. to the sound of his car alarm, which was parked in front of his apartment building. He ran downstairs and started putting out the flames before the police were called. Firefighters arriving on the scene told him that a house was on fire in the forested area near the village of Búbánatvölgy, which it later emerged also belonged to the mayor. Eight to ten gasoline cans were found at the scene and the roof and wooden rear of the building were destroyed.
“The general crisis in Hungary needs to be treated immediately, because people believe they need to take revenge into their own hands,” the mayor said.
Meggyes received threats in October and believes this is just part of Hungarian public life, although no recent event or debate took place which could have led to the attack against his property. The mayor estimates the damage caused will cost Ft 10 million (roughly €40,000) to repair.
Despite the attack, Meggyes is not asking for increased protection. He said “they can’t intimidate me; I’m just doing my job, and the ongoing development of Esztergom will continue,” adding that “the perpetrator should know that I’ll be even steadfast in each debate.”
