WIESENTHAL CENTER

FROM MTI DAILY BULLETIN

Wiesenthal Centre calls on EP to condemn anti-Roma attacks in Hungary


Budapest, August 10 (MTI) - The Simon Wiesenthal Centre called on the European Parliament on Monday "to launch a firm resolution condemning" recent anti-Roma attacks in Hungary, a statement written by the Centre's director for international relations said.

In a congratulatory letter to newly elected EP President Jerzy Buzek, Shimon Samuels said all MEPs who have been "elected on party platforms of hate must be quarantined politically and socially."

"The virus they carry is still fresh in European memory. (…) Let the European Parliament take the first step to stem the contagion within Europe's own legislative House," concluded Samuels.

Samuels said the situation was "most acute in Slovakia, Hungary and the United Kingdom."

However, "while the Slovak police must be commended for its increased protective measures around Roma villages and the arrest, last week, of Marian Kotleba, one of the leaders of the extreme-right Slovenska Pospolitost party, the Hungarian President and the British authorities, on the other hand, have responded only with lip service," he added.