Thread by @bellingcat

Fans of Hungary's national team have recently faced scrutiny for displaying homophobic banners & alleged racist chants.
Now, @ColborneMichael reports that anti-LGBT banners held by some #Hungary fans at #EURO2020 appear to be connected to a neo-Nazi group bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-eu…

Last week, Hungarian football fans booed England players taking the knee and allegedly aimed racist chants at the team’s black players.

But this wasn’t the first time a group of extreme Hungary fans have brought a hateful agenda into stadia.

European football’s governing body, UEFA, fined the country’s football federation and ordered the team to play 2 UEFA matches without spectators in response to anti-LGBT & racist behaviour from Hungarian fans during EURO 2020 matches. bbc.co.uk/sport/football…

The offending chants and banners were displayed shortly after the passing of a controversial anti-LGBT law in the Hungarian parliament, which is dominated by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s right-wing Fidesz party.

The legislation purports to ban promoting or portraying homosexuality or gender changes to those under 18 and has left LGBT+ Hungarians feeling stigmatised and fearing for their future. nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-ou…

There does not appear to be any formal connection between Fidesz and the football fan groups involved in racist or homphobic incidents at national team matches.

But prominent Hungarian politicians have either sidestepped criticism of fan behaviour, downplayed their actions or even spoken out in their favour in recent months.

An investigation by Bellingcat found that some Hungary national team fans who appeared to be in possession of anti-LGBT banners prior to EURO 2020 matches, and which it seems were later displayed in stadia, have close ties to notorious far-right and explicitly neo-Nazi groups.

This banner which appeared during Hungary’s EURO 2020 match with Germany was later spotted in the possession of Legio Hungaria, a neo-Nazi group, protesting Budapest Pride.

It was also displayed in a post to a neo-Nazi Telegram channel on the day of the game, accompanied by the sign-off “Heil Hitler”

A number of identical imperfections (from black flecks to white smears) are clearly visible on the banner, which appears homemade and hand painted, strongly suggesting they are the same item

A separate anti-LGBT banner displayed during Hungary’s EURO 2020 match with Portugal appeared in the possession of an individual who was pictured on the Facebook page of Tamás Lipták, a senior member of Legio Hungaria.

https://twitter.com/adamcrafton_/status/1405121992592871426

Lipták has posed with other banners critical of athletes who take the knee.

An individual with a strikingly similar tattoo and appearance to Lipták (2nd from left) also appeared in a picture posted to a neo-Nazi Telegram channel alongside an “anti-LMBTQ” banner akin to that displayed in the EURO 2020 match with Portugal.

Other banners to appear on Lipták’s Facebook page include this one

This detailed look at these banners appears to indicates that there is at least some connection between a known neo-Nazi group, Legio Hungaria, and the football fans who displayed these banners at Hungary’s EURO 2020 matches.

That Legio Hungaria and far-right football fans have a relationship is no secret; Legio Hungaria has posted about far-right football fans coming to its events.

Legio Hungaria would neither confirm nor deny whether Lipták was the individual holding up the banners in the pics posted to his Facebook page.

“Football fan society is basically nationalist in Hungary, and we are proud of that,” a representative of Legio Hungaria told Bellingcat by email. “Legio Hungaria is in solidarity with all football fan groups who have commitment to the right.”

Lipták said “we have already said all we wanted” when Bellingcat later contacted him for comment. Read the full investigation here bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-eu…

A hungarian translation of this article can be found here telex.hu/komplex/2021/0…