August 20 – Opposition parties celebrate national holiday
Budapest, August 20 (MTI) – Public holidays are manifestations of national cohesion, they prove that a country or a city are not just a multitude of people, but a shared spirit and a shared fate, Socialist mayor of southern Hungary’s Szeged Laszlo Botka said in his address marking August 20 on Wednesday.
Botka referred to Saint Stephen, the founder of the Hungarian state, and said that the king had “done no less for the homeland than to save it and preserve it for posterity”. He also quoted Stephen as saying that “hatred is poisonous, it is detrimental, and you cannot build anything on that basis, a future the least”.
Socialist Party leader Jozsef Tobias said at a press conference marking the national holiday that “today’s Hungary is not democratic; it is characterised by autarchy, state-capitalism and feudal traits”, which should be replaced by a rule of law, freedom and social security. Tobias criticised the government for “preferring fight and aggression to peace and understanding, it strives for total control, believes in intimidation rather than dialogue, and seeks to dismantle the constitutional state”.
In a statement, the leftist Democratic Coalition (DK) said that Saint Stephen’s legacy was Hungary’s orientation to Europe, to which there is “no alternative”. Though some of Hungary’s leaders and systems in history may have made temporary detours, “the country always found its way back to the directions set by Saint Stephen”. DK also said, however, that this year’s August 20 is “a day of mourning rather than one of joy”, because “its leaders have again lost the way, and its prime minister, who considers himself Christian, openly sides with the anti-democratic systems of the East and undermines the unity of Europe”.
Gabor Staudt, the radical nationalist Jobbik party‘s candidate for Budapest mayor, said at a celebration in the City Park that his party was for those that wanted public order, and not for people that “embezzle public assets, steal, cheat, lie, live as criminals either in the street or as politicians”. Staudt also called for procedures against former or incumbent officials suspected of those activities.
Photo: MTI – Janos Marjai
