Slovakia's foreign minister, Ján Kubiš, has backed the Slovak Police in their action against football fans in Dunajská Streda, southern Slovakia, on November 1.
He called on the Hungarian government to deal with extremists, prevent attacks on the Slovak Embassy in Budapest, and investigate anti-Slovak demonstrations. "We persecute expressions of racism, fascism, nationalism of that kind, but they let them absolutely freely walk the streets," he said.
According to him, the interior ministries of both countries communicate. Therefore, Kubiš said, he does not understand why Hungary's prime minister, Ferenc Gyurcsány, again addressed this question to Slovak prime minister Robert Fico in Warsaw on Wednesday. He confirmed that the Cabinet did not deal with the request of Hungary's prime minister to investigate the police action in Dunajská Streda.
"Those who pretend to be fans, and there were several hundred of them, who came from the Hungarian Republic, came there armed for a real fight, wanted to provoke and certainly did their utmost in order to provoke. It is necessary to take action against such hooligans at all times," Kubiš said after the Cabinet session on November 6.
"I will not raise doubts about the work of the Slovak Police in any way. The Slovak police force has always acted correctly. Maybe dozens of such actions have been carried out at Slovak stadiums in the history of the Slovak Republic, and no one has made a case of it but our Hungarian friends. I will have to take time to think about why just them and why just now," he said. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
