Budapest - The Budapest chief prosecutor's office on Monday
asked a court to disband an extreme right-group that has raised fears
in the Hungarian Jewish and Roma communities.
The office presented Budapest Municipal Court with the official
request after the Magyar Garda (Hungarian Guard) was deemed to have
indulged in racist activities.
Some 260 members of the guard, sporting black uniforms that Jewish
groups have said resemble those worn by Second World War fascists,
eight days ago marched through a town near Budapest in an anti-Roma
march.
Chief Prosecutor Tamas Kovacs, speaking in parliament, said that
with the march the guard had reached a point that was 'incompatible
with a democratic state'.
The prosecutor's office said that the Hungarian Guard was guilty
of racial discrimination and had created a climate of fear among
Hungary's Roma community.
Spokesman Attila Morvai said the group was unconstitutional and
the request to disband it was backed up international laws.
The formation of the Magyar Garda by extreme-right party Jobbik in
August prompted outrage from Jewish groups, politicians and other
civil society bodies.
The guard, which now has around 600 members, has chosen as its
coat of arms a variation on the red-and-white Arpad Stripes, a
medieval flag that became associated with Hungary's Nazi-aligned
Arrow Cross party in power for a brief period during World War II.
The far right has been in the public eye since anti-government
riots that followed the leak of a tape in September 2006 on which
Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany admitted he had lied about the
economy.
While the violence has died down, right-wing protestors have
persistently infiltrated anti-government demonstrations and scuffled
with police throughout 2007.
Many are worried about a perceived rise in violent right-wing
activity, and worries were further heightened on Sunday when an
organization calling itself the Hungarian Arrows National Liberation
Army claimed responsibility for the beating of a TV journalist who
criticized the far-right.
The group also said it had thrown Molotov cocktails at the homes
of Socialist MPs.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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