Thousands protest in Budapest outside Slovak Embassy – photos, videos

Thousands gathered last evening in front of the Slovak Embassy in Budapest to protest against a new Slovak legal amendment that could see anyone jailed for up to six months simply for questioning the so-called Beneš Decrees. These post-Second World War measures, rooted in the principle of collective guilt applied to local Hungarians and Germans, stripped millions of people of their property and forced them from their homes – and, shockingly, the seizure of valuable land continues to this day without compensation.

Hungarian government stays silent

Progressive Slovakia, the strongest opposition force to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, raised the alarm about the amendment months ago. However, Fico’s camp responded aggressively, branding them traitors and hardening the law even further. The criminal code amendment, passed in December, now threatens up to six months’ imprisonment for challenging the Beneš Decrees – regulations that would not withstand today’s human rights standards.

Slovakia’s largest Hungarian party, the Alliance of Hungarians (which currently holds no parliamentary seats), protested immediately and organised a rally in Komárno against the change. Its leader, László Gubík, also debated the issue in Slovak media. Gubík stated that they did not require assistance from the Hungarian government, as speaking out against the new Slovak law was their own fight.

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Yet the Hungarian government has remained silent. While Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has previously summoned ambassadors over far lesser issues – such as the stopping of a train carrying Hungarian football fans at the border – nothing has happened in this case. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán merely said that the government is “reviewing” the law, while Szijjártó appears to have accepted his Slovak counterpart’s claim that it does not target the Hungarian community.

That argument rings hollow. The Hungarian community in Slovakia still numbers more than 422,000 people. By contrast, the local German population has dwindled to around 5,000 following post-war expulsions. Hundreds of thousands of Hungarians also fled or were forced to leave Czechoslovakia after the Second World War, most of them as a direct result of the Beneš Decrees. Many were forced to live in railway carriages in Budapest for months because they had nowhere else to go.

Domestic media have also pointed out that even the Orbán camp’s favourite whipping boy – the allegedly “traitorous” centre-left Gyurcsány government – once summoned the Slovak foreign minister in similar circumstances.

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Budapest rally against the Beneš decrees

Last night, thousands demonstrated outside the Slovak Embassy in Budapest, furious about the criminal code clampdown. University student organisers spoke first, led by law student Illés Katona, according to Telex. He argued that hostility between Slovaks and Hungarians is not inevitable and demanded the repeal of the law. The president has since signed the amendment into law. Protesters chanted: “Withdraw it!”

“The law unnecessarily restricts freedom of speech and spreads fear among researchers and students,” Katona added.

History student Attila Gábris warned that Hungarians from Slovakia who speak the truth could end up behind bars – an unprecedented outrage.

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Péter Magyar vows tough action if he wins power in April

Péter Magyar, president of the Tisza Party and a polling favourite to become prime minister in April (regardless of the polling agency), also attended the protest. On 29 December, he promised to expel the Slovak ambassador. Yesterday, however, he softened his stance slightly, telling journalists that once in office he would demand explanations from the Slovak government and instruct the new foreign minister to push for the law’s repeal.

Mi Hazánk deputy leader Előd Novák, another prominent politician present, pledged to initiate an infringement procedure against Slovakia – provided they can secure backing from Germany’s AfD. Just two days earlier, he had publicly criticised the Beneš Decrees in Dunajská Streda, risking a six-month prison sentence himself. He described the act as a gesture of solidarity.

Watch Novák’s video from Dunaszerdahely (Dunajská Streda in Slovak) below: