On June 6, 2019 close to a thousand civilians and public personalities from the Szeklerland region of Romania had come together to form a human chain around the military cemetery in the Úz Valley in order to prevent an angry Romanian mob from unlawfully breaking into the graveyard, where the bodies of Austrian, German and Hungarian soldiers rest.

The Romanian mob, many of them well-known members of the Dinamo Bucharest football club violent supporters’ group broke down the traditional Sekler gate and forced its entry into the cemetery. Once inside they smashed several wooden crosses that marked the memory of Hungarian heroes, beat up Hungarians with flagpoles and rods torn from the fence.

The loudspeakers started to play popular and vulgar music at first and celebratory speeches followed after. During an Orthodox religious service, they consecrated the Romanian war memorial and laid wreaths at the freshly erected concrete crosses. Once again, the people of Dărmănești/Dormánfalva and the other Romanian participants proved that despite acting unlawfully, despite having the Romanian authorities present at the scene, they could and can do whatever they want without consequences. Nobody was arrested, nobody was taken into custody during and after these regrettable events.

The peacefully protesting Hungarians were escorted to the Sânmartin/Csíkszentmárton by the Romanian Gendarmerie. The Hungarian protesters ultimately left the scene to avoid any further physical abuse.

President of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (DAHR) Hunor Kelemen condemned the incident from Úz Valley. “We strongly condemn all acts of violence and call on the authorities to immediately apprehend those who resorted to physical aggression, who destroyed property in a barbaric fashion, who have invaded the military graveyard from the Úz Valley, destroyed the gate and tore out the Hungarian crosses in order to intimidate our community. The Hungarians protested peacefully against the illegalities committed by the mayor of Dărmănești/Dormánfalva, actions that were deemed to be illegal by several Romanian authorities. The Hungarians protecting the graveyard formed a human chain and did not provoke anyone, but protested for their ancestors’ memory to be respected. At the same time, we are asking the Romanian news televisions to put an end to misinformation and incitement, because it only leads to furthering the conflict.”

DAHR President urged the Romanian authorities to apprehending those responsible and asked Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila to sack the Minister of Internal Affairs and Harghita county Prefect, both of whom were responsible for letting such severe atrocities happen.

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