As prefects have repeatedly done in the past few years, the prefect of Covasna county once again fined Árpád Antal, the mayor of Sfântu Gheorghe/Sepsiszentgyörgy, with a total amount of 10 000 lei. Iulian Constantin Todor fined the mayor for decorating the city with the colours of the Hungarian flag, on the occasion of the March 15th celebrations, and for failing to put up a Romanian flag next to each Hungarian flag and cockade.
Once again severe anti-Hungarian hate speech at the football stadium
On March 4th, in the quarterfinals of the Romanian Cup, Sepsi OSK played against FC Petrolul Ploiești in the home town of the latter. During the match the supporters of the home team displayed such extreme anti-Hungarian behaviour that the game had to be interrupted for 10 minutes. The team from Sfântu Gheorghe/Sepsiszentgyörgy (a city with a majority Hungarian population) was accompanied by more than 100 supporters, who also became the targets of xenophobic chants.
Romanians in Szeklerland are holding a provocative protest event in advance of Hungarian national day celebrations
On March 14th the Romanian community of Szeklerland are planning to celebrate the day of solidarity with Romanians in Covasna, Harghita and Mureș counties, through a series of events in Sfântu Gheorghe/Sepsiszentgyörgy entitled Romanians for Romanians. The event is organised by the Civic Forum of Romanians in Covasna, Harghita and Mureș County and is planned to take place at the Museum of Romanian Spirituality.
Place name signs in Baia Mare/Nagybánya painted over
The names of the city in Hungarian and German have been painted over recently on the trilingual place name signs marking the entrances into Baia Mare/Nagybánya. Red-yellow-blue paint (the colours of the Romanian flag) is more and more frequently used to hide Hungarian inscriptions on various signs. This case is particularly grave, given that it concerns 12 of the 13 place name signs in the city, indicating that this action was planned and prepared in advance.
Protest in Bucharest against linguistic rights for Hungarians
Romanian civil society organisations held a protest in Bucharest to protect the Romanian language. They intended it as a continuation of protests held in July of last year, when organisers rallied against the then newly adopted Administrative Code in front of the government building. This time they gathered in front of the presidential palace, upon the call of an organisation called the Path of the Nation, as well as the mobilization by the Civic Forum of Romanians in Covasna, Hargita and Mureș counties.