Hungary Must Change Treatment Of Roma - President

In an earlier attack on the Roma, a man and his five-year-old son were shot dead on Monday in Tatarszentgyorgy.

The global economic crisis has increased the urgency for Hungary to change the treatment of its Roma population after a series of attacks on the minority, President Laszlo Solyom said on Saturday.

Attacks on Hungary's Roma, which make up about 5-7 percent of the 10 million population, have increased since the crisis, with some analysts saying the Roma had become a target for frustration over slowing economic growth.

"The financial and economic crisis is a watershed," Solyom told the daily Nepszabadsag in an interview. "It is a shock to society the end of which we cannot yet see, nor assess its outcome."

Citing Roma rights advocate Gyula Raffael late on Saturday, news agency MTI reported that a petrol bomb was thrown on an abandoned house in Tatarszentgyorgy, 65 km (40 miles) southeast of Budapest, near the scene of a similar attack on Monday.

MTI said one person received medical treatment.

A police spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

Earlier this month more than 1,000 supporters of the far-right Jobbik party, which opinion polls showed gaining ground over smaller parties, staged a protest in Budapest against what they say is a rise in crimes committed by the Roma.

Hungary's economy, which averted collapse only by way of a $25.1 billion IMF-led loan in October, is expected to fall into a recession of up to 3.5 percent this year.

Unemployment rose to 8.4 percent in November-January intensifying rivalry in hard-hit sectors such as construction, where unskilled Roma could in the past find work.

"The relations between the Roma and majority society is a strategic problem for the future not just in Hungary, but from the Czech Republic to the Balkans as well," Solyom said.

"It is a fact that the majority of the Roma have emerged as the losers of regime change (in 1990). It remains to be seen whether they also become the losers of the crisis."

In an earlier attack on the Roma, a man and his five-year-old son were shot dead on Monday in Tatarszentgyorgy.

It was not known if Monday's attack was racially motivated but Roma community leaders said it was similar to other attacks and was an indication of systemic aggression against Roma.

Solyom said it was too early to determine the motives behind recent attacks, but that they were a wake-up call for Hungary.