Roma target motorists following weekend accidents

Two separate incidents took place over the weekend in which a road accident involving a member of Hungary's Roma (Gypsy) minority resulted in a driver being targeted by relatives of the injured party.

The incidents recalled a notorious case two years ago, in which a man who had hit and slightly injured a Roma girl in Olaszliszka, BAZ County, was beaten to death by her relatives in front of his two daughters.

On Friday evening, a car collided with a motorcycle in Mezőfalva, Fejér County, reports atv.hu. The passenger of the motorbike died of her injuries at the hospital. After the accident, the driver of the car and his daughter were attacked by a group of forty Roma individuals, who reportedly beat them until police arrived on the scene and fired two warning shots.

Meanwhile, according to hirtv.hu, a similar incident took place on Sunday night, when a motorist hit a young Roma man with his car in Pátka, slightly injuring him. After the accident, the driver's home was attacked by a group of 20 to 25 Roma, who destroyed his car and threatened his elderly mother, who was watching the attack from a window.

Tension have been brewing between Roma and non-Roma residents of Pátka for months, and erupted in early summer when Molotov cocktails were thrown at houses belonging to local Roma.

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