The deputy leader of the radical nationalist Jobbik party has denied he had any information about a racist conference planned in Budapest this week, but said he did not agree with the Hungarian government banning organizations.
“Freedom of speech does exist at the moment, and should allow a lot of things, although I am sure this is not a racist conference,” Tamas Sneider told a Budapest press conference.
Sandor Pinter, Hungary’s interior minister, has banned a conference the US-based “extremist and racist” National Policy Institute planned to hold in Budapest from October 3 to 5, the ministry said on Monday. Pinter also instructed the national police chief to ban the planned participants’ entry into Hungary, as “the organisation professes an overtly racist ideology and the speakers champion racist ideas” which are incompatible with Hungary’s fundamental law.