July 14th, 2009

Police investigate “new” Magyar Gárda; former minister mulls banning Jobbik

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Budapest Police are looking into who may have violated the law by refounding the outlawed Magyar Gárda after it was dissolved by a court on July 2, police chief József Bencze told Kossuth Rádió. The police have asked prosecutors to investigate the case.

Leaders of the far right party Jobbik announced on Saturday that the Gárda will be refounded under the name Magyar Gárda Foundation.

“It is worth considering whether to launch a procedure to dissolve Jobbik,” said Péter Bárándy, a justice minister in the Gyurcsány government. The question, he told Népszabadság, is whether Hungary respects the international treaties it has signed that ban the arousal of hatred, adding that the answer appears to be “no”.

“At the moment society is not aware of the disease, and this malicious development is instead tolerated. If authorities are uncertain in managing the violations of law by Jobbik and the Magyar Gárda then the disease will spread very quickly throughout society,” Bárándy warned.

The police prevented a public forum of Jobbik and the Magyar Gárda on Budaörs on Saturday, as the event was considered as recruiting for the banned organisation, Jobbik reported on its website.

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  • http://mokus-pokus.blogspot.com Mókus

    I am as liberal as they come, but I think banning Jobbik would be unfair and unwise. Better to let them show up in front of the EU in their oh-so-fastidious Magyar Gárda uniforms set forth their moronic agenda. Then voters can see what an embarrassment they are and how backwards they are making Hungary look internationally.

  • hazafi

    Well at least Mr Bárándy and his kind are showing their true colours at last. Is he alone in thinking that the Hungarian consitution and the court system must (again) be subverted to crush the growing Nationalist movement? No he isn’t. I wonder whether these Gentlemen’s well chosen statements are deliberately intended to precipitate civil war?
    More importantly, how can this blatantly biased article possibly get away with its wantonly distorted message?
    What kind of journalism talks vaguely of “international treaties” as a justification for the suppression of democracy, and doesn’t mention, even fleetingly, the EP election which favoured Jobbik with 15% and Mr Bárándy’s MSZP with 17%
    Can anyone here guess a political motive his party might have for using the powers of the state to crush the party that is their most immediate threat?
    I await the EU’s deafening silence on this nakedly expressed desire to rob half a million European citizens of their vote.

  • T

    Banning something gives publicity and a sense of persecution which breeds extremism. The answer is simple – let these idiots parade in their ‘camp’ uniforms and indulge in the sort of homoerotic backslapping cartoon capers the Nazis indulged in, while at the same time pointing out the parallels with the rise of facist organisations in the 1930′s and pissing ourselves with laughter if they actually turn up in parliment looking like they escaped from ‘The Sound of Music’. Of course then someone else also needs to provide a good political solution too…errm…”just a minute on boys, I’ve got an idea” (Cue music: Original Italian Job theme, leaving the coach hanging over the cliff edge – mint a Magyarorszag…)

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