Far-right martial arts competition to take place in Budapest this weekend

On Saturday, 6 May a martial arts competition dubbed European Fight Night will take place in the Hungarian capital. The European far-right calls it the largest radical nationalist gathering since Covid hit. During the event, participants from 12 different countries will spar with each other in 15 separate combat sports.

Other than fighting matches, concerts will also take place throughout the event. It will also be possible to buy clothes from far-right fashion brands. While there are advertisements, the organisers are being secretive in many aspects. For example, they highlighted that attendees are not allowed to snap photos or videos or reveal the location of the event to the public. Those caught breaking these rules will be thrown out, Telex writes.

Main organisers

On their official page, they named 3 main organisations responsible for the program. One is the Hungarian Legio Hungaria, lead by Béla Incze. The two others are the German Kampf der Nibelungen and the French Pride France. These two groups are headed by Alexander Deptolla and Tomasz Szkatulski respectively.

Incze used to be the assistant of an old unnamed Hungarian far-right parliamentary representative, before being fired for allegedly assaulting a police officer. While Legio Hungaria is not a well-known or large organisation, they managed to bring attention to themselves several times in the last few years. In 2019 they damaged a Jewish community centre, in 2021 they destroyed a Black Lives Matter statue in Budapest, and this year they supposedly attacked journalists reporting about a far-right event.