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.
Romanians in Szeklerland are holding a provocative protest event in advance of Hungarian national day celebrations
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.
Rally against Hungarian language rights in Bucharest
On Sunday, several Romanian non-governmental organizations protested – again – in Bucharest against the assumed extension of the Hungarian community’s language rights, MTI news agency reported. Mihai Tîrnăveanu, the organizer of the rally and leader of the association called Path of the Nation, elaborated in his speech, delivered on a megaphone, that the administrative code revised last year enforces the right of Hungarians to use their mother tongue in local organs of the central administration. The demonstrators believe that such a provision is unacceptable and means that Hungarian would become the second official language in Romania.
Trilingual Nagybánya town sign defaced
It may appear repetitive, but we cannot allow for any such incident to be left unreported: Saturday night, unknown perpetrators used red, yellow and blue spray paint to deface the Hungarian – and partly the German – name of the town on the trilingual road sign for Nagybánya/Baia Mare/Neustadt in Máramaros/Maramureș County.