Hate speech by mayor in Hungary

11 July 2000

On April 27, 2000, the mayor of Csór, Mr Dezső Csete, reportedly stated on a news programme of the Hungarian state television, "At the present time, I believe that the Roma of Zámoly have no place among human beings. Just as in the animal world, parasites must be expelled." Roma from the town of Zámoly had recently moved to Csór due to the fact that their houses had been knocked down by the Zámoly municipality. In its May 12, 2000 report on this speech, the Hungarian daily Népszabadság added that the government, the governing parties, and even the opposition did not react to this statement. Only the opposition Alliance of Free Democrats party sought an investigation by the Hungarian government's Ombudsman for National and Ethnic Minorities into the TV news report. This is not the first of such racist statement by Mr Csete: as a candidate for council president of Csór in 1990, he reportedly declared in a local bar that "Every Gypsy should be shot, with one bullet", according to a February 3, 1990 article in the weekly Arena. He reportedly never retracted that statement, but rather, told the press that "90% of the village stood with him."

(Arena, Népszabadság)