Hungarian anti-Gypsy politician expelled from ruling party

A FOUNDING member of Hungary's ruling Fidesz party has been expelled from the organisation after writing a newspaper opinion piece in which he referred to Romani people as "f***ing Gypsy animals". 

Zsolt Bayer, who currently holds no political office in Hungary but enjoys a high profile in the country's right-wing media, wrote the piece with reference to a night-club brawl on New Year's Eve in which one of the alleged assailants was a young Romani man.

Bayer wrote that "a significant part of the Roma is not suitable for coexistence", and that Romani people are "animals" with "animal behaviour".

"I do not need to tolerate and understand, but to have revenge," he added.

"Anyone who, upon seeing flickering shapes in the night, has felt a knot in their stomach and prayed: 'God, don't let it be Gypsies' - knows what I am speaking about," wrote Bayer.

He also explained why he believes the Roma to be "f***ing Gypsy animals": their speech "cannot be called communication" but consists of "inarticulate sounds erupting from an animal's skull" in a "miserable world of violence."

He also attacked "b***ards" and "politically correct idiots of the Western world" who seek to uphold Roma rights.

The National Forum of Hungarian Roma told journalists that it planned to file a criminal complaint against Bayer, whose article was widely seen as an incitement to racial hatred.

Hungary's Deputy Prime Minister, Tibor Navracsics, told the TV station ATV that "there is no room in Fidesz for people who consider groups of people to be animals."

Bayer, who is 49 years old and a native of Budapest, served as head of press for the Fidesz party during the early 1990s. Last year, he helped organise high-profile marches in support of the Hungarian government.

He wrote the piece, which was titled "Ki ne legyen" (Hungarian for "Who would not be?") in 5th January edition of the newspaper Magyar Hirlap (Hungarian News).