Fri, May 25 2012

Far right takes centre stage

Mon, Oct 26 2009 11:04 CET

byRobert Hodgson - The Budapest Times

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Far right takes centre stage

A supporter of the Hungarian radical right-wing party "Jobbik" wears face paint with the national colours at a rally in Budapest October 23, 2009, as Hungary commemorates the 53rd anniversary of the 1956 revolution against Soviet rule.

Hungary officially celebrated the 53rd anniversary of the 1956 Uprising against Soviet-backed rule last Friday. It was also the 20th anniversary of the founding of the democratic Hungarian Republic, and the end of the Communist Hungarian People’s Republic. However, the official wreath laying and flag hoisting took place behind hundreds of metres of metal barriers, with platoons of riot police on standby. The day was, in the end, dominated by a huge rally held by the ultra-nationalist party Jobbik in the centre of the capital.

On what was supposed to be a day of national unity celebrating Hungary’s lonely stand against the mighty Soviet Union in 1956 and, 33 years later, the transition to democracy, the country could scarcely have been more divided. Fear of egg-wielding hecklers meant the official commemorations, attended by Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai and President László Sólyom, were bleak affairs on empty, damp and misty squares in front of the parliament building and across town at 56-osok tere (56-ers Square). They were watched only by the television cameras of state-owned MTV.

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