On Saturday, the 8th of February 2020, a nazi march took place in Budapest, as a commemoration of the attempted outbreak of the Buda Castle, called as the Day of honor, which took place on the 11th of February 1945. This event is organized as a way to remember and mourn the attempted escape from Budapest of German and Hungarian nazi forces in 1945, who were surrounded by the Soviet army, hidden in the hillsides of Buda.
Neo-Nazis from different countries across Europe, such as France, Germany, Bulgaria and Czech Republic, gather together at Városmajor park, on the Buda side of the city. The estimations calculated that the gathering was formed by between 500 and 600 nazis.
To protest against this act against human rights and dignity, the anti-fascist group AutonomiaHun in collaboration with Rhythms of Resistance Budapest organized an antifascist counter-demonstration. The latter was registered and organized in the same park, as close to the nazi gathering as possible with a wide time range. A huge police cordon, based on police members and a fence which surrounded the nazi gathering, prevented possible confrontation between both groups. The estimations calculated between 300 and 500 counter-protesters present. It was first time for a long time, when the number of counter-protesters was close and/or equal to number of fascists. Another big achievement of the antifascist demo was that for the first time a big group of Roma joined the action.
The counter-demonstration consisted on a collaboration between different leftist groups, as well as Roma rights activists and civilians who all united to stand against fascism. A great number of people and strong visibility was brought by Rhythms of Resistance that united the group from Budapest and comrades from other European countries who came to raise voice and be loud and pink against fascism. We challenged the blackness and masculinity of the anti-fascist movement, and so were in pink, full of frivolity expression.
The evolution of the protest consisted on a march around the nazi gathering, both shouting chants and playing drums. The march advanced until the police demanded that we needed to go back, because we were walking on an unregistered part of the demonstration. We came back to the starting point. At that time, the official demonstration had finished, but a big part of Rhythms of Resistance, along with antifascist groups, marched towards an unregistered part, really close to the nazi gathering (some reports says that less than 100 meters away from them) and started playing, chanting and using megaphone sirens, in order to disturb their commemoration. Our group has made a great noise while Nazi had a commemoration, and some media have claimed, that there was an angriness among the Nazi gathering since we all were loud enough not to let them have a minute of silence of their fascist heroes.
From the perspective of the organizers, this was a huge success. It was the first time since such anti-fascist protest were organized for the occasion of the Day of Honour that so many people participated in this counter-protest, and the fact that the amount of people was similar to the nazis gave us hope to continue fighting fascist political ideologies in Hungary.
List of links:
https://youtu.be/x1mnOO1opJs
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8WTf4SHbfe/?igshid=5bt6le77drq5
https://www.facebook.com/114747130067187/posts/123745702500663/
https://hirtv.hu/kultura/antifasiszta-tuntetok-zavartak-meg-a-kitores-napi-megemlekezeseket-2494906#
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2020/02/neo-nazis-europe-rally-budapest-200207083707437.html?fbclid=IwAR3tJVsDAdCBSGANd-8o3kLyArSARicqF957TqY7o4KLMkHiEYspSHCSRvo
https://444.hu/2020/02/08/jelmezes-nacik-es-dobokkal-tamado-antifasisztak-csatatere-lehet-szombaton-budapest
https://444.hu/2020/02/08/civilek-ciganyok-balos-dobosok-es-nacik-elindultak-a-becsulet-napi-odavissza-tuntetesek-a-varosmajorban
https://444.hu/2020/02/08/nincs-meg-egy-militans-mozgalom-ami-ilyen-lassan-allna-harmas-alakzatba
https://www.facebook.com/notes/auton%C3%B3mia/a-v%C3%ADzv%C3%A1laszt%C3%B3-a-becs%C3%BClet-napi-ellendemonstr%C3%A1ci%C3%B3-tanuls%C3%A1gai/874146186378724/
https://www.blikk.hu/aktualis/politika/oriasi-balhe-a-becsulet-napjan-az-antifasisztak-ratamadtak-a-szelsojobbosokra/www.blikk.hu/aktualis/politika/oriasi-balhe-a-becsulet-napjan-az-antifasisztak-ratamadtak-a-szelsojobbosokra/95wyvds
https://merce.hu/2020/02/09/csoportos-garazdasag-miatt-nyomoznak-az-antifasiszta-tuntetesen-tortentek-miatt/
https://merce.hu/2020/02/09/a-hir-tv-a-legio-hungaria-vezetojet-idezte-bekes-megemlekezokent/
https://merce.hu/2020/02/08/felvonul-az-europai-szelsojobb-budapesten-tobb-tiltakozo-akcio-is-lesz-becsulet-napja-percrol-percre/
https://m.hvg.hu/itthon/20200208_Az_antifasisztak_es_a_rendorok_mar_a_Varosmajorban_vannak
some right-wing and conservative sources
https://m.origo.hu/itthon/20200208-tuntetok-esellentuntetok-is-voltak-a-becsulet-napja-rendezvenyen.html
http://betyarsereg.hu/a-2020-as-becsulet-napjarol-a-betyarsereg-szemevel/
https://magyarhang.org/belfold/2020/02/08/mindket-oldalon-sokan-beszeltek-nemetul-igy-zajlott-a-becsuletnapi-menet-es-az-ellentuntetes/
https://hungarytoday.hu/far-right-commemoration-day-of-honour-2020/
https://pestisracok.hu/szelsojobbosok-es-antifasisztak-feszultek-egymasnak-a-becsulet-napjan-ps-galeriaval/
