In November 2009 the local chapter of Jobbik held a local forum that Roma people considered an act of provocation.

A day later a Roma woman was involved in an altercation with the head of a food store.

Jobbik then held a spontaneous demonstration and its members were attacked by a group of Roma with iron bars and clubs, smashing the car of a group of Jobbik sympathisers, who suffered minor injuries.

The Civil Liberties Union harshly criticised the verdict stating that while the fact that the perpetrators took the law into their own hands is unlawful, their motive was fear from racists and the court was wrong to define the event as an act against “members of the Hungarian nation.”

The defendants have appealed the sentences and the case will continue in the Debrecen Court of Appeals.

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

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