Máté Kocsis, the Fidesz party mayor of Budapest’s 8th district, is among the most avid Facebook users in Hungary, and in his case it’s not a press secretary posting updates on his behalf, but the mayor himself. Sometimes he gets himself into trouble, like when he engaged in a homophobic tirade earlier this year, after a liberal politician outed him as allegedly being gay. Mr. Kocsis vehemently and repeatedly denied his alleged homosexuality in angry Facebook posts.
“I am not a faggot,” Mr. Kocsis later said in a video interview, standing in front of a map of the pre-1920 Kingdom of Hungary. He more recently posted a Hungarian flag overlay on his Facebook profile picture, in response to the wave of rainbow flag overlays that appeared following the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriages throughout the country.
Mayor Máté Kocsis uses a Hungarian flag overlay on his Facebook image, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to legalize gay marriage.
Máté Kocsis has also been one of the most prominent right-wing politicians to consistently play on xenophobia within Hungarian society, by creating an atmosphere of fear and loathing around the wave of Syrian and Afghan refugees transiting through Hungary, and often ending up (if only temporarily) in the mayor’s district. On Tuesday, Mr. Kocsis informed his residents that the refugees had effectively “destroyed” one of the main public parks in the 8th District, and which had only recently been upgraded and revitalized using municipal funds.
“The migrants have completely ruined our recently upgraded II. János Pál pápa tér. They have erected tents, set fires, they are littering, they are being rowdy, they are stabbing with knives and are defacing property. We have never had so much human waste in our public places,” wrote Mr. Kocsis on his Facebook page. He then made a sarcastic remark about another district mayor–the left-centre Gergely Karácsony of a Budapest suburb called Zugló–who has been among the few politicians to show compassion to the refugees, even if it may not win him brownie points among many voters.
“Zugló isn’t far from here and what’s more, my colleague Gergely Karácsony will give them everything they need: accommodation and food. In fact, the mayor’s party would even make Budapest public transportation–which is running a deficit–free for the migrants. According to him, Hungarian taxpayers can just pay the bill on behalf of the immigrants,” posted Mr. Kocsis to his Facebook page. His post received 567 likes and over 500 comments.
Some of his Facebook followers, however, suggested that the mayor was lying. To begin with, there were no tents erected by refugees. Secondly, the reason public squares like II. János Pál pápa tér suddenly saw hundreds of refugees arrive is because Budapest police forced them to leave the nearby Keleti pályaudvar railway station, located just a few blocks away. Having been evicted from the grounds of the train station, they simply had nowhere else to go. Additionally, it would appear that local authorities closed off all access to public toilets in the vicinity of the square, leaving the refugees (including children) absolutely nowhere to relieve themselves.
Syrian and Afghan refugees in II. János Pál pápa tér, a park in the 8th District, after being evicted from the Keleti railway station by police. There is no sign of tents, fires being lit, knife violence or fighting, as Mayor Kocsis claimed on Facebook. Photo: Zoltán Balogh/MTI.
“Where have they ever set fires,” asked one local, who volunteers with the refugees and provides them with food. “The garbage is all collected and placed in bags next to the bins. The ‘migrants’ are actually cleaning as well. Maybe the bags of garbage should be removed from the park…Every single letter of your post is a bald-faced lie. You should be ashamed of yourself!”–wrote the volunteer.
Mr. Kocsis responded to the post, addressing the volunteer as “sir” and claiming that municipal employees were sent out to clean the garbage in the park.
“First off, I am a woman. Secondly, it’s not municipal workers, but volunteers and male refugee who cleaned up the trash,” responded the activist to the mayor.
Meanwhile, Budapest’s municipal government has decided to create “transit areas” for refugees around major railway stations, where they will provide them with basic medical care and hygiene facilities. But even this municipal service–which is long overdue–will be largely managed by the activists and volunteers who have been working with the refugees in areas like the 8th district and around Keleti for the past month.
It’s high time that police and municipal officials work with NGOs and stop deliberately creating completely inhumane conditions for Syrians and Afghans fleeing civil war and on-going violence or repression.
