Speeches and whistles at 1956 commemoration

Commemorations were held in Budapest on October 23 to mark the 60th anniversary of the popular uprising against the Stalinist regime in 1956. PM Viktor Orbán warned of the 'Sovietization' of the EU while the opposition called for him to be toppled.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke in
front of Parliament. He was of the view that the freedom-loving peoples of
Europe face the task of saving Brussels from ‘Sovietization’. He claimed that
Hungarians would never give up on freedom, they survived communism and the
Soviet occupation because “Hungarians have talent for freedom.” He continued by
saying that “if a nation gives up its independence, it may sink back into the
state of national minority any time” due to the “engulfing and devouring
appetite of empires.” Thais why, he said, it would not be acceptable if the EU
was turned into some modern-day empire in the place of an association of free
European nations. His speech, also attended by Polish President Andrzej Duda,
was frequently accompanied with whistles by demonstrators despite heightened security.

Most of the opposition parties
held their commemoration in Blaha Lujza Square with former PM Ferenc Gyurcsány
calling for all decent people who wish to see the Orbán regime evicted from
power. This needs to be achieved with a “revolutionary election,” he said. Another
opposition figure, Gergely Karácsony spoke about the necessity of cooperation
between all those partners who want to get rid of this government, and thus, want
to see the way “out of this nightmare.”

At another venue in Budapest,
the president of the right-wing opposition party Jobbik, Gábor Vona called for
the resignation of PM Viktor Orbán, claiming that the Orbán regime is a “turpitude
tied with a ribbon of national colors and theft decorated with cockade.”