Our Homeland organized an event it called the “National Unity Army Review” yesterday, commemorating the 65th anniversary of the death of former regent Miklós Horthy.
The far-right party and its sympathizers gathered in St. Gellert Square in Budapest, where party Vice-President Előd Novák and others gave speeches. The participants then led a torchlit parade towards Parliament, which included a blue light pyrotechnic display in national colors on Freedom Bridge.
Smaller organizations, such as the Outlaw Army, the Miklós Horthy Society, and the Trianon Society, were also represented at the event. Participants made demands that an equestrian statue of Horthy be erected, among other things.
Karacsony: Budapest Wants No Part of Hatred
Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony wrote on Facebook in connection with the event that “Budapest wants no part of hatred.”
The Mayor wrote that far-right organizations and “fake opposition parties” marched and held a “demonstration of strength” in the capital, “stoking fear in a part of the population.”
Under Horthy’s rule, claimed Karácsony, those in power “began to build an authoritarian system that led to the elimination of the parlimentary system, deep poverty, discrimination, war and destruction, and the death of hundreds of thousands of our fellow countrymen.”
I find it unacceptable that Miklós Horthy’s legacy, which is still disputed today, is being used by political forces to incite hatred and disturb the peace in Budapest. Thank you to the courageous people who still speak out against hatred.
-wrote the Mayor.
[HVG][Photo: Mi Hazánk Mozgalom / Facebook]