2009.07.09. 07:40
Half of Hungarians welcome paramilitary guard ban
Budapest - Half of those asked in a recent survey welcomed a court decision banning the radical nationalist Hungarian Guard, one third of the respondents, however, thought that the police's reaction to a subsequent pro-Guard demonstration was much too harsh, the national daily Nepszabadsag reported on Thursday.
The paper referred to a survey by pollster Median, and said that it was mostly young adults and voters of the main opposition Fidesz party that disapproved of the higher court's legally binding decision to dissolve the paramilitary organisation.
One third of the total sample of 1,000 adults thought that the police was "too tough" during last Saturday's demonstration against the ban in Budapest, while half of the respondents from the capital shared that opinion, Nepszabadsag said.
In its banning decision last Thursday, the court of appeals argued that the organisation had overstepped its rights as a cultural association and its black uniforms, regular military-style trainings and anti-Roma marches generated fear in the public and violated basic freedoms.
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