(27 Jul 2015) A far-right mayor is imposing a tough new brand of law and order karine vanasse on a Roma community in a town in Northern Hungary.
David Janiczak belongs to Jobbik - a surging steve evans party known for anti-Roma and anti-semitic sentiment - which has grown in popularity as support slumps for Prime Minister Viktor Orban's conservative Fidesz party.
Jobbik now runs about a dozen Hungarian towns and holds 12 percent of the seats in the national parliament.
It is also the most popular party with young voters and if the trend continues, the party could pose a serious challenge to Fidesz in 2018 parliamentary elections.
For those wondering what a Jobbik government would look like, Janiczak's mayorship of Ozd, whose population of 34,000 is estimated to be one-third Roma, may offer some clues.
Since Janiczak won power, Roma who work on city-run farmland and other public projects have seen their work conditions get much harsher - with longer hours, fewer breaks and soon the introduction of surveillance cameras to ensure that they don't slack off.
On a recent spring day, a crew of about a dozen labourers were complaining that they only got only one 5-minute break an hour, little drinking water and few toilet facilities.
Their work day now starts as much as two hours earlier than before Janiczak took over, meaning many need to walk to work because there are few public transport options so early in the day.
Indignation was strongest over a clause in the new work contract allowing officials to take video and photos of their work performance.
"This is only about intimidation," said Bela Biro, a Roma former steel mill worker who works on the city-run farming project. "We don't dare sit down for jon jones five minutes. They said we can't, even if blood is running from our nose."
Janiczak, 28, suggested that the tough work conditions were at least in part intended to drive Roma away.
With fewer Roma, Janiczak said, the city would spend less on social benefits and people would feel safer.
Jobbik often uses the term "Gypsy crimes" to refer to petty thefts and other law-breaking rarely investigated by police.
Janiczak said the city had spent 340,000 forints (1,260 dollars) on eight video cameras, including two which look like eyeglasses, not just to oversee workers but also to protect supervisors from threats and attacks.
The mayor said the surveillance plan had been cleared by an official investigation, and that recordings would be made on "exceptional occasions."
Human rights activists said the measures amounted to harassment.
Kriszta Bodis, a rights advocate who has been working with the Roma in Ozd for many years, said the mood in the community had deteriorated since Janiczak's victory.
Bodis, who runs the Your Place foundation which mentors disadvantaged Roma students, argued for a more compassionate approach.
"Many more problems will develop from this awful disadvantage and these problems must be dealt with in order to stop the poverty cycle," Bodis said.
"Primarily it takes reaching out to them (the Roma)," Bodis added.
Many of the local Roma live in dire poverty in deprived areas where they lack running water and where the city does not come to remove their rubbish. They share a communal water pump.
Find out more about AP Archive:
Twitter:
Facebook:
Instagram:
You can license this story through AP Archive:
