Budapest- Slovakian Interior Minister Robert Kalinak has denied that police acted unlawfully when dealing with ethnic Hungarian football fans earlier this month.

Hungarian Justice Minister Tibor Draskovics confirmed Wednesday evening that he had received a letter from Kalinak about the matter the previous day.

He added that he had accepted an invitation to meet Kalinak in Bratislava. The two ministers were also due to talk briefly in Brussels in Thursday.

A diplomatic row broke out between Hungary and its neighbour to the north after a football match at Dunajska Streda on November 1 at which the police allegedly used excessive force against Hungarian supporters.

In his letter, Kalinak said Slovakian police had acted within the law, and that their intervention was aimed at hooligans, not at Slovakian, Hungarian, Czech or any other supporters.

The match between the home team at Dunajska Streda - where ethnic Hungarians make up around four-fifths of the population - and Slovan Bratislava had to be stopped for 15 minutes in the first half as police moved to suppress alleged unrest among home supporters.

Several dozen spectators were injured, and some had to be flown to hospital by helicopter.

The incident was followed by demonstrations in Hungary, including a flag burning in front of the Slovakian embassy in Budapest.

Official accounts of the intervention by the Slovakian police have failed to satisfy Hungarian authorities.

A meeting between the Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico and his Hungarian counterpart Ferenc Gyurcsany on 15 November was tense and inconclusive.

Each side blamed the other for a rise in ethnic tension between Slovakians and ethnic Hungarians living in Slovakia. (dpa)