Investigation launched into police "commando" raid on Roma homes
An investigation has been launched in to an allegedly abusive police sweep in a Roma (Gypsy) neighborhood in Soroksár, near Budapest, reports daily Népszabadság, based on a dispatch by newswire MTI.
On the night of July 17, armed commandos descended on the homes of several Roma families, after which two dozen residents - including children and elderly individuals - were herded into a garden and forced to kneel next to a wall.
The offices reportedly failed to identify themselves, produce a search warrant or indicate what they were searching for. During the raid six to eight police microbuses were deployed, one of the inhabitants said.
According to the police, the team was looking for two individuals suspected of murder, robbery and other serious crimes, and information they received suggested that they might have been hiding in the targeted area, and that the force used was commiserate with the dangerousness of the criminals being sought.
The lawyer of the families will turn to the Független Rendészeti Panasztestület (Independent Police Complaints Commission).
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