October 23 – Hungarian parties, leaders commemorate the 1956 revolution – PHOTOS

Hungary’s national flag was hoisted with military honours at Kossuth Square in front of Parliament on Friday morning, in a state commemoration marking the anniversary of the anti-Soviet revolt which started on October 23, 1956.

The ceremony was attended by House Speaker László Kövér, Defence Minister Tibor Benkő and Army Commander Ferenc Korom.

In light of the coronavirus pandemic, most state commemorations have been cancelled.

During the day, several feature-length films, documentaries and content commemorating 1956 will be streamed on the Nemzeti Ünnepek es Emléknapok YouTube channel.

Until Nov. 4, photos marking the most important sites of the freedom fight are shown around Budapest.

Orbán commemorates 1956

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán commemorated the 64th anniversary of Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet uprising together with freedom fighter Mária Wittner, on Friday morning.

The prime minister and Wittner, who was sentenced to death for her involvement in the 1956 uprising before the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, laid a wreath at a memorial in Budapest’s Corvin Lane, a site of gruesome fights during the revolution.

Opposition parties mark 1956 anniversary in joint video message

Hungary’s opposition parties paid tribute to the heroes of the anti-Soviet uprising of 1956 in a joint Facebook video message on Friday.

Péter Jakab, leader of conservative Jobbik, called October 23 a symbol of Hungarians’ desire for freedom.

“Regardless of whether someone was politically right or left-leaning, their background or beliefs, there was an agreement that oppression and exploitation needed to end,” Jakab said.

Tímea Szabó, the co-leader of liberal Párbeszéd, said this day represented justice, arguing that “progress cannot be about replacing our old overlords with new ones while millions are left on the side of the road with the overlords of the day swanning around in luxury while millions are still forced to struggle just to make ends meet”.

LMP co-leader Máté Kanász-Nagy said Oct. 23 had been the day when Hungary “woke up” and declared that it wanted to go in a new direction with new leaders. Erzsebet Schmuck, the party’s other co-leader, added that the national holiday was a symbol of Hungarians’ perseverance.

“Hungarians’ desire for freedom is stronger than any oppressive regime and in the end, liberty and justice shall prevail,” she said.

Democratic Coalition leader Ferenc Gyurcsány said it was “the shame of [Prime Minister Viktor] Orbán’s regime” that the demands of the revolutionaries of 1956 were “still valid today”. He noted that the people had demanded a new national assembly, a fair right to strike along with a freedom of the press and expression. They also wanted to be free of Soviet Russian influence and belong to Europe, he added.

Socialist Party co-leader Bertalan Tóth called Oct. 23 the symbol of workers’ councils and self-determination. Hungary is in the process of becoming a feudal society, he said, arguing that working people were vulnerable and deprived of their rights. Toth said the revolutionaries of 1956 had also demanded that workers be treated with dignity and autonomous actors. “This is what they were fighting for then and this is what we have to fight for today.”

Ágnes Kunhalmi, the party’s other co-leader, said history had taught Hungarians that together they were strong enough to reclaim their dignity and freedom.

András Fekete-Győr of the Momentum Movement said that like in 1956, Hungarians today did not want “Eastern-style oppression”.

“Those in power today are flirting with countries like Putin’s Russia when in 1956 few things were as clear as the fact that Hungary belongs in a Western civic democracy,” he said.

Budapest mayor commemorates 1956

Coming together as a community is what gives importance to October 23, this day in 1956, and in 1989, the mayor of Budapest said at a commemoration of the anniversary of Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet uprising on Friday.

Twice already, October 23 “reflected our better selves and our best ability”, Gergely Karácsony said in the park of City Hall.

“This shows that despite the thousand and one differences separating us, such as our background, upbringing, faith and ideology, there was something much stronger binding us together: our love for freedom and for our homeland,” he said, opening an portrait exhibition of women who played a role in 1956.

Source: MTI