Yesterday was a busy day for the Orbán propaganda machine’s special “migrant workshop,” which met to discuss an “aggressive attack against Hungary” during the early morning hours by a group of about 60-70 migrants at “an emblematic spot where a similar attack took place in September 2015.” The “migrant workshop” consists of members of the government who are in some way responsible for the security of the country. Yesterday’s meeting was deemed so important that even Viktor Orbán attended. After the gathering concluded, a press conference was held where Károly Papp, director-general of security within the Hungarian police force, Sándor Pintér, minister of the interior, and György Bakondi, the prime minister’s chief adviser on security matters, spoke to the journalists gathered for the occasion.
Károly Papp explained that two attacks took place yesterday, one at 5:20 a.m. and another at 5:30 a.m. “Migrants in groups and in an aggressive manner” tried to enter the territory of Hungary at the Röszke crossing. During the second assault, the intruders numbered about 60-70 people. Three security guards tried to keep them at bay without success until one of them fired three warning shots, at which point they scattered. Policemen, apparently stationed farther back, managed to turn this crowd back to the Serbian side of the fence. The police suspect that “human traffickers were waiting for them” in Hungary.
György Bakondi, who is the butt of jokes in the Hungarian independent media, stressed the tremendous migrant pressure of late and pointed out that, just in January, 3,000 migrants tried to enter the country. He also indicated that the Hungarian authorities expected the attack, although Sándor Pintér called it a surprise onslaught.
The spot the intruders used is an official crossing, which is open between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., so the fencing there is not that sturdy. As for the strange presence of ordinary security guards, two women and a man, at the crossing, Pintér explained that their task was only the protection of the buildings and not the border itself. The system of having only security guards at the crossing and a second ring of police a few hundred yards behind has worked well in the past. Nonetheless, he announced that within ten days there will be a review of the practice. In response to questions about the security of the crossing, Pintér admitted that the iron gate wasn’t locked, only closed. He also had no information on whether the Serbian authorities had forewarned the Hungarians.
One of the three award-winning heroes who prevented a migrant invasion of Hungary
MTV sent a crew of reporters and cameramen to Horgoš on the Serbian side and prepared a colorful report in which they describe a group of young migrants who are “discussing their future illegal border crossings.” An Egyptian apparently told the Hungarians that they are determined to get to Hungary and from there to Austria and Germany.
“Experts” on migrants also appeared on state television. Georg Spöttle, a “security analyst” with Nézőpont Intézet, expressed his belief that George Soros’s NGOs from abroad and from Hungary were involved in helping this particular group cross the border. Zoltán Lomnici, Jr., who claims to be a constitutional legal expert, was now paraded on TV as an expert on migration. According to him, the border crossing was “a test because it is clear that the migrants are not giving up.” He described the young men as “former soldiers who knew exactly what they were doing.” Another expert, József Horváth, a left-over security official from the Kádár regime, believes that the Serbian border patrols assisted the men because Serbia wants to join the European Union, and therefore its government “is eager to demonstrate its pro-migrant position.”
An opinion piece in Magyar Nemzet by one of the paper’s regulars, Dávid Megyeri, suggested that what happened at the border yesterday “was a coordinated action” by some of Orbán’s enemies: EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, Klára Dobrev (whom the Orbán press invariably calls Mrs. Gyurcsány), the LIBE Commission of the European Union, and Soros NGOs (which are also inciting the Romas of Gyöngyöspata against the Hungarian government). But Hungary is strong, and its enemies will not be victorious.
Obviously, the government is trying to make the most of this incident. The question is, however, whether it was real or staged. A growing number of people have serious doubts about the genuineness of what happened yesterday morning at Röszke. After the police released a video of the “attack,” the general impression of those who saw it, including me, was that something was very wrong with that video. It was supposed to have come from the feed of a security camera that faces the border crossing. But most security cameras are stationary, whereas the camera that took the video released by the police kept changing angles to follow the movements of the intruders. So, it’s no wonder that Péter S. Föld of Hírklikk published a humorous opinion piece with the title “Young men looking like migrants for immediate hire.”
The video can be seen here:
https://www.facebook.com/mtva.hirado/videos/489799005056841/?t=0
If it is true that Árpád Habony is back at work as a key adviser on matters of propaganda, it is possible that the “aggressive attack” of migrants is part and parcel of his remedy for the troubles Fidesz has been facing lately. Viktor Orbán attacked the no-good Gypsies, the jailbirds and their lawyers, and now comes the renewed threat of migrants, reminding people of the dreadful situation Hungary had to endure during the summer and fall of 2015.
Finally, let’s not forget about the three heroic security guards. At an impressive ceremony they received an award “for being instrumental in preventing a larger group of illegal migrants from Serbia from entering Hungary.” The women also received flowers from the “deputy prime minister” — that is, Sándor Pintér, who is the head of the government while Viktor Orbán is abroad. Orbán apparently was invited by the Gyöngyöspata community for a friendly chat, but he had another engagement in Portugal, where he is holding out his hand for a large chunk of money from the European Union.
