Hungarians are afraid of the Pirese

Can this be for real? Xenophobia directed at an ethnic group that doesn't even exist?

According to recent surveys, an increasing number of Hungarians oppose the immigration of Pirese to their country. Never heard of them? The Pirese were invented by a research institute to compare the attitude of Hungarians towards existent minorities - Roma, Germans, Slovaks, Serbs - with their feelings towards a fictitious group. Gusztav Megyesi comments with sarcasm: "Surprisingly, the Pirese are most hated by the left and the prosperous inhabitants of western Hungary. They hate the Pirese mainly because they've never met one. Personal contact would perhaps help to reduce prejudices... Why hasn't a politician come up with the idea of making his career by saving our country from the Pirese? 'I have had all Pirese deported. I am the Hungarian people's best hope. I want to rule,' he could proclaim. And his political opponents wouldn't be able to produce a single Pirese to refute these claims."

(Reported by courrierinternational.com, but also in today's Stuttgarter Nachrichten in an article titled Piresen raus aus Ungarn!)