PHOTOS: Hungarian national flag raised marking 15 March celebrations – UPDATED

Accompanied by military honours and the national anthem, Hungary’s national flag was raised in front of Parliament on Friday morning, kicking off commemorations of the March 15 national holiday marking the 176th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1848-49 revolution and war of independence.

The flag was hoisted in the presence of President Tamás Sulyok and House Speaker László Kövér, as well as members of the government, diplomats and as representatives of the state and military.

Families and tourists were also present in the square, many wearing cockades and holding Hungarian flags.

Festive events are being held throughout the country and beyond.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will give a speech at the National Museum as part of the the commemorations starting at 10:30am.

Here are some photos of the Kossuth Square celebrations:

DK: Homeland means ‘shared laws, burdens, responsibility’

“In a shared homeland the laws apply to everybody, while burdens and responsibilities are also shared; it is that common homeland that the incumbent regime has stripped us of,” Klára Dobrev, MEP of the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) said in her speech marking the March 15 national holiday and broadcast online on Friday.

“The leaflets that upturned Hungary 176 years ago said ‘equality, freedom, brotherhood’ and showed to the world what the Hungarian nation wanted … and we cannot be a nation with a homeland unless the same rules apply to everybody and nobody is above the law,” Dobrev said.

Hungary’s current regime is “based on the denial of those values … those in power could do everything, they can even commit heinous crimes without consequences,” she said.

She added, however, that “often there does not appear hope for change, and it was like that 176 years ago; but as poets, politicians, journalists, cafe owners and printers found association in 1848, it could just as well happen today.”

UPDATE 1 – Socialists: fights against an authoritarian regime dividing the country from inside

Ágnes Kunhalmi, co-leader of the Socialist Party, spoke at a commemoration held at the monument of the revolutionary poet Sandor Petofi in central Budapest. In her speech, she said “rebuilding the faith in democracy and the rule of law” was of paramount importance. “Today’s fight must be fought against an authoritarian regime dividing the country from inside,” she said.

“Living in a civil democracy is not enough; freedom, legal equality, as well as welfare and employee rights and a radical reduction of the gaps in society are also needed,” she said.

“Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is working to push Hungarian society back into the past and delegate the European Union back to an earlier state,” she insisted. The upcoming European parliamentary elections could decide if “Orbán, seeking association with far right circles, could dismantle a Europe of welfare . if he can prevent further European integration and reforms,” she added.

UPDATE 2: Jobbik & LMP

Erzsébet Schmuck, co-leader of the LMP party, said in a video message that the heroes of the revolution and war of independence should be in the focus of commemorations. “There are some that think this is the day to oust the ruling elite,” she said, and called for a proper way to pay tribute to “those that fought for Hungary’s independence, those that sparked the wave of revolutions in Europe”.

Márton Gyöngyösi, the head of conservative Jobbik, said at his party’s commemoration that “changes today could be achieved through peaceful means, by going to vote”. “Hungarians of today will have an opportunity to demonstrate that they are a European, freedom-loving people at the polls on June 9,” he said.

UPDATE 3: Momentum, Mi Hazánk

The Momentum party held its commemoration in the 22nd district, where pary leader Anna Donáth said “Hungarians do not suffer that others rule over them”. She slammed the governing parties, saying they were talking about the 12 points in which revolutionaries had expressed their requests for freedom rights “but they don’t believe in it.”

Lawmaker Endre Toth said Hungary’s freedom was bing threatened not by external forces “but by Viktor Orban’s limitless hunger for power”.

At radical Mi Hazank’s commemoration in downtown Budapest, party leader Laszlo Toroczkai said the party was taking the youth of 1848 as example who “didn’t wait for others, or check the reaction of the powers that be” but worked to put into reality a “Europe of nations, along with our allies.”

He said the self-esteem of Hungarians had been “broken during the years of communism” when the country’s leaders were “using that” to style themselves as saviours while “carrying on with the economic policy of governments before 2010”. Left-wing parties do the same, he said, “by sending the message that there is no need of Hungary, and what is needed is a United States of Europe”.

“We believe Hungary is strong. Hungarians are committed to their homeland, language and heritage.”

Mi Hazánk is working to build a “Hungarian national economy” supporting Hungarian workers, entrepreneurs and famers rather than multinational companies, Toroczkai said.

Read also:

• Warning: Budapest traffic restrictions for 15 March national holiday – Read more HERE
• Attention: Important changes in railway traffic in Hungary