Hungarian PM calls for stronger rural police presence

The prime minister has called on the justice ministry to come up with a way to increase the police presence in small settlements, the government spokesman said on Saturday, following three night-time attacks on Roma residents in the past month or so.

Spokesman Dávid Daróczi said the PM expected to have a proposal ready to act on before the end of the month.

The most recent attack on Roma residents occurred last Thursday night, in the village of Pirics in NE Hungary, when night raiders firebombed two homes in which there were families with children, and shot at people attempting to escape the fire. An elderly woman - age 63 - was shot in the leg as she ran from the burning building and required hospitalization.

Prior to that, unknown perpetrators took pot shots through the windows of three homes in the village of Galgagyörk, just northeast of Budapest. In that case, no one was hurt.

On June 3, Roma homes in the village of Pátka, about 40 km SW of Budapest, were firebombed. A fire broke out in a room where children were sleeping, but was extinguished before it could do serious damage. In this case residents apprehended three of the perpetrators, local residents, who were arrested and are being held in pre-trial detention.

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