Secret service not watching migration billboards, says interior ministry

Budapest, June 18 (MTI) – The secret services were not involved in police action against those defacing billboards put up under the government’s “national consultation” campaign on immigration, interior ministry state secretary Laszlo Tasnadi told parliament’s national security committee on Thursday.

The state secretary said he initiated an open meeting of the committee after the police had repeatedly been accused of secretly and openly guarding the billboards. The police perform their duties in line with the law, Tasnadi insisted.

Socialist head of the committee Zsolt Molnar asked representatives of the interior ministry and the national police whether they conducted any secret investigations in the matter and if the secret service was involved in the security measures.

Police chief Karoly Papp said the police have no list of the billboards displayed. He said the police were deployed to public areas based on complaints they received and photos posted online. As of 6 am Thursday, police have received a total of 85 complaints related to the defacing of migration billboards and have launched investigations in 59 cases, Papp said. The police carried out open and lawful procedures in each case, and did not carry out any secret data collection, he added.

Photo: MTI

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