The small opposition MDF party demands the strengthening of the police force to defend the people, party chair Ibolya David said on Tuesday.
David spoke in the wake of an announcement that a Roma association in western Hungary was planning to set up their own self-defence guard in response to radical national activities mostly associated with the paramilitary Hungarian Guard.
“Roma are also capable of hearing their own voices and coming together,” Tuesday’s Kisalfold daily quoted local Roma leader Laszlo Padar as saying.
In reaction to the creation of guards, David emphasised the responsibility of the state to defend its people.
MDF suggests to increase the number of the police force from the present 45,000 to 60,000, she said.
“Public security is to be safeguarded by the police and the state, and not by guards,” she said.
Gypsies are the largest minority in Hungary, numbering over 800,000. With their low level of education, they are among the biggest losers of the political transition some 20 years ago.
During the past two years, the radical national Jobbik party’s Hungarian Guard has staged several demonstrations in towns with decisive Roma communities to protest against “Gypsy crime”.
Medium Density Fibreboard is a political party here in Hungary!? Wonder what the policies of ‘chipped wood pressed into easily transported and used boards’ are?