Budapest Calls on Romania to Protect Hungarian Minority

The government delivered a stiff note of protest to the Romanian ambassador in Budapest on Tuesday, demanding that the Romanian government take action to protect the ethnic Hungarian minority in the Transylvanian city of Tirgu Mures, where one person was killed and dozens were injured in ethnic violence.

Romanian nationalists wielding clubs, axes and scythes seriously injured at least four people when they attacked ethnic Hungarians in Tirgu Mures on Monday.

The clashes continued Tuesday, according to reports from Romania, as about 2,000 Romanians, attacked about 5,000 ethnic Hungarians protesting in the town square. The Romanians charged the Hungarians and drove them from the central square where they had occupied the town hall.

Witnesses saw Hungarians being clubbed to the ground and Arad Kovacs, an official of the Hungarian Democratic Union Party, said, “I am afraid this is going to be a horrible night.”

One of those injured Monday, a prominent ethnic Hungarian leader in Tirgu Mures named Andras Suto, was airlifted to Budapest.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Gyula Horn appealed to U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar to intercede with the Romanians to protect the 2 million ethnic Hungarians in Romania. Prime Minister Miklos Nemeth told Parliament that he sent a personal message to Romanian Prime Minister Petre Roman, pointing out that it is the “responsibility of the Romanian government” to protect the Hungarian minority.

Word of the violence drew about 10,000 Hungarians to gather in Heroes Square here to demand action by the Romanian government. The issue is an emotional one in Hungary, where representatives of leading political parties are locked in the closing days of an election campaign, the first free elections in 42 years. Hungarian nationalism has been a strong current in the campaign for the election Sunday.

“This is the disappearance of our hopes,” said Gaspar Miklos Tamas, a Romanian-born Hungarian and a leader of the Alliance of Free Democrats, one of the leading parties vying for seats in the new Parliament. “The Hungarians (in Romania) have shown endless patience, but patience is at an end now. The Romanian government must be held responsible for protecting the Hungarians there.”