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| The flag of the Romani (gypsy) people. |
Roma (gypsies) in the southern Hungarian city of Pécs last week established their own "self-defence" organization called the Roma Guard. The goal of the organization was to "protect" minorities such as the Roma and Jews from what they called racist attacks by Hungarian nationalist groups such as Hungarian Guard. The Roma Guard was created by Ferenc Bagó, who himself has a lengthy criminal background. With all the publicity of the Roma Guard recently, Bagó was still wanted by the police and has now been arrested by them.
According to the Dunántúli Napló, Bagó was taken into custody by a swat-team. He didn't realize that he violated a part of the criminal code that states that those with criminal backgrounds are forbidden from forming organizations. Before he was taken into custody by the police, he appeared on a Pécs television program with a representative of Jobbik, Gyimesi Gábor.
The two men had to sit beside each other during the program and viewers could tell that the situation was tense. Both of the men gave their opinion on the situation of the Roma and about Roma crime in Hungary. At the beginning of the program Ferenc Bagó admits that there is Roma crime in Hungary. This is something that the Hungarian left-wing refuses to acknowledge even though it is common knowledge. The YouTube video is in Hungarian. The future of the Roma Guard is now uncertain as its leader and founder is now under arrest.
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István
