The number of affected schools has risen to 240 already.
Several primary and secondary schools in Budapest and rural areas received a bomb threat. Our first reports were about at least 20 institutions in the capital, but since then it has been announced that, according to the Ministry of the Interior, 121 school district institutions across the country are affected. Shortly before 11 a.m., the police shared new data, based on which more than 240 schools received bomb threats across the country. There was a similar mass threat in Bulgaria yesterday, and in Slovakia, last November, educational institutions received threats.
The affected schools in Budapest include the Lágymányosi Bárdos Lajos Two Language Primary School, Géza Gárdonyi Primary School in Újbuda, as well as several schools in Csepel. One of the employees of the Lágymányosi school told the press that there would be no classes for the whole day and that the children will be sent home. There is also a bomb threat in the Bajza Street Primary School, and also in a school in Hódmezővásárhely. However, according to the available information, at the latter location, the students were able to return to the building around 10 a.m. and classes continued. Later, local mayor András Cser-Palkovics reported that the Comenius Dual Language School in Székesfehérvár also had a bomb threat.
Regarding the bomb threats, the ORFK stated that several educational institutions received an electronic mail from one location with similar content on Thursday morning. They added that the police will take all necessary measures in this regard. The police ask that anyone who receives such a message notify the authorities and act according to the police’s instructions. The BRFK issued a statement regarding the matter.
They wrote: “In connection with the threat, the police are ordering an investigation for the crime of threatening public danger according to § 338 of Act C of 2012 on the Criminal Code. The national police chief appointed the National Emergency Police Office (KR NNI) to investigate, and at the same time – in order to investigate the case as soon as possible – he ordered all regional bodies to cooperate with the KR NNI out of sequence”.
According to information from csepel.info, several schools in the district received the following letter by e-mail this morning:
“An explosive device was planted in the school. It is time to extend our blessed operations to the heart of Europe, the bastion of unbelief and hypocrisy. We have witnessed your governments ongoing war against Muslims and it would be only fair that you experience the voice of the oppressed. From now on, your safety is no longer guaranteed” – this is how the letter begins, which, according to the newspaper, was sent to the institutions in Csepel from an e-mail account called harcos@coredp.com.
Gergely Gulyás, the minister in charge of the Prime Minister’s Office, confirmed to Government Information that the institutions received the above mentioned letter. As he said, they contacted the partner organizations in Slovakia, where 270 schools had bomb alarms in a similar way last September. He said that even in the case of a foreign server, it is possible to identify the perpetrator. According to the government, teaching can continue undisturbed, but where the principal deems it justified, he can order a teaching break for today.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has already indicated that he is “on the hotline” with Interior Minister Sándor Pintér, the security of the affected schools will be strengthened, and the threat will be investigated. According to the available information, the matter of bomb threats will be a prominent topic at the soon-to-be-started government briefing, and it is expected that we will learn more about the developments from the government here. In the meantime, Péter Magyar responded to the news of the threats in 11 points and declared: “It is the responsibility of the minister responsible for secret services and the minister of the interior, if they had no idea about such a coordinated action in advance.”
The mayor of Csepel, Lénárd Borbély, announced that they opened the Csepel Day Camp on Hollandi út for those whose parents cannot take their children home, as well as for teachers who come with them.
According to 24.hu, the Vitéz Mihály Primary School and High School in Csokonai in Újpest has also received a bomb threat, and the children there were taken to the nearby Reformed church. Norbert Trippon, the mayor of the district, knows of five institutions in Újpest that have bomb alarms. He tried to reassure the population, “there is no reason to panic”, he wrote, and indicated that parents can take their children home, but more reception places have been opened for those who cannot go home.
According to Gergely Őrsi, the mayor of the II. district, five schools are affected in his district: the French School, Ferenc Csík Primary School, Pasaréti Szabó Lőrinc Primary School and High School, Fillér Utcai Primary School and Than Károly Eco School and Technical School.
“In order that the children do not have to wait long in the cold, the municipality of the II. district offers the affected schools that they can also wait in the mayor’s office, the Klebelsberg Cultural Palace, the Marczibányi Tér Cultural Center and the Gyarmati Dezső Swimming Pool during the inspections,” the mayor wrote in his post. In the I. district, the Dezső High School in Kosztolányi and the Sándor Petőfi High School are certain to be involved in the threat, this was announced by Mayor László Böröcz. The institutions have begun to be evacuated, and the students are being sent home. Here, too, they thought of the children whose parents can’t go for them, or who can’t go home for some other reason, they are sent to the institutions of the Sándor Márai Cultural Center.
There are bomb alarms in four schools in the VI. district, mayor Tamás Soproni announced that students and teachers can hide in the Eötvös 10 community center during the police investigation. In the XII. district, the colleagues of the Hegyvidéki Rendészet cooperate with the police to secure the locations, the school management constantly informs the parents. All institutions ensure the safe placement of children. The press was informed that in the BMSZC Verebély László Technikum, the head of the institution informed everyone around 9:00 a.m. that they should leave the institution as soon as possible, that the education will continue online. In the corridor, the teachers herded the students, they emptied the building in about 5 minutes. The emergency bell rang after the first class at the Ágnes Nemes Nagy Art Vocational School. Both the students and the teachers thought at first that it was just a test, but then almost immediately all the students were escorted out of the building.
Dávid Vitézy announced that he initiated with the mayor that BKK should offer heated buses for students and teachers waiting outside the affected schools due to the evacuations, and Gergely Karácsony has since also announced that the heated buses will go to the sites. The mayor also stated that he is in contact with the Budapest Police Headquarters, the capital’s duty and control center is following the events.
24.hu
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