Hungarian government to end anti-Soros poster campaign - spokesman

Record ID: 899368

  • Title: Hungarian government to end anti-Soros poster campaign - spokesman
  • Date: 13th July 2017
  • Summary: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF PARLIAMENT
  • Embargoed: 27th July 2017 11:02
  • Keywords: Soros billboard campaign government
  • Location: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
  • City: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0056PJWDO9
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:An anti-migrant billboard campaign by the Hungarian government that features the image of U.S. financier George Soros will come to an end on Saturday (July 15), the government spokesman said on Thursday (July 13).
    The billboards and full-page media ads that have appeared across Hungary depict a smiling Soros -- a vocal critic of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing government -- with the caption: "Don't let Soros have the last laugh."
    Some Soros billboards have been defaced with graffiti that reads "stinking Jew".
    The Federation of Hungarian Jewish Federations (Mazsihisz) has urged Orban to halt the campaign, which a spokesman for Soros said earlier this week was reminiscent of "Europe's darkest hours". Orban's government has strongly denied that the billboard campaign is anti-Semitic.
    Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs told Reuters the campaign, which was a follow-up to the launch by Orban of a "national consultation" on issues of foreign influence and mass immigration, would expire on July 15.
    Soros, a Hungarian-born Jew who has spent a large part of his fortune funding pro-democracy and human rights groups, has repeatedly been targeted by Hungary's right-wing government, in particular over his support for more open immigration.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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