Hungary activists take immigration billboard war to Orban's hometown

A row over Hungarian government posters seen as xenophobic looks set to intensify after organisers of a counter-campaign say their spoof versions will launch next month, including in Prime Minister Viktor Orban's hometown.

The counter-campaign raised around 32 million forints (100,000 euros, $115,000) within a week, Gergo Kovacs, head of one of the organisers, the satirical activist Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party (MKKP), told AFP Tuesday.   

Some 500 spoof posters will be plastered on billboards nationwide July 1, including in Orban's hometown of Felcsut, followed by another 500 in mid-July, Kovacs said.

One proposed slogan for two of the posters in Felcsut directly mimics one of the government posters.

"If you are Hungary's Prime Minister, you must respect our laws!" was the slogan, which proved the most popular in a vote organised through an MKKP social media site.
Last week, the government put up some 1,000 Hungarian-language posters around the country warning readers to heed local laws and culture and not take jobs from Hungarians.

"If you come to Hungary you must respect our laws," one of the government posters read.

Kovacs said civil society aimed to match the number of posters printed by the government.

The government's messages, part of a response to a surge this year in migrants and asylum-seekers arriving in Hungary, drew accusations of xenophobia from opposition parties and rights groups.

While the twenty different slogans of the counter-campaign have not yet been finalised, three will express solidarity with refugees, Kovacs said.
Earlier this month Orban, who has regularly slammed EU policy on immigration as too permissive, called migration a threat to "European civilisation".

In May, the government sent out a questionnaire on "immigration and terrorism" to eight million people that was sharply criticised by the UN's refugee agency UNHCR, amongst others.

Hungary received more asylum-seekers per capita than any other EU country apart from Sweden last year, up to nearly 43,000 from 2,000 in 2012.

This year, the number is expected to reach up to 130,000, Orban's chief of staff said last week.