On 23 October, Hungary marked the 56th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution, the ground-breaking uprising of the Hungarian people against Soviet occupation and communist oppression. Throughout the day there were several events peacefully commemorating the Revolution all around the country.

In Budapest, the largest event was the Procession for Peace, organised by NGOs in support of the government. According to the police, approximately 150 thousand people participated in the procession starting on the Buda side of the capital, which number reached 400 thousand after reaching Kossuth Square, where Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gave a speech in front of the Parliament Building. Twenty times more people were present at Kossuth Square than at the largest event opposing the government.

The Prime Minister greeted the first laureate of the Hungarian Legion of Honour, Mrs Ilona Tamás, a 100-year-old retired ethnic Hungarian teacher from Slovakia, who taught Hungarian for several decades and was recently stripped of her Slovak citizenship after she was granted Hungarian citizenship. The award may be presented in recognition of exceptional service or heroism demonstrated for the Hungarian nation.

The Prime Minister emphasised in his speech that Hungary accepts the rules that apply to everyone, stating that the country is ready to fulfil its responsibilities and respects the European institutions. He added that Hungary accepts the moral standards or European civilization, but rejects double standards and wants the EU institutions to respect the Hungarians. He stated that without nations, Europe has no heart and without Christianity, Europe has no soul.

Talking about the revolution the Hungarian Prime Minister stated that today every nation knows and acknowledges that with the Hungarian uprising the whole world became a better place. He also said that several decades later the heroes of 1956 gave strength for the realisation of the transition in 1989 and to destroy the obstacles keeping us from the free world.

All events have been peaceful on 23 October, with the exception of one incident in which according to the Police, "far-right counter-demonstrators verbally insulted" people near Elizabeth Bridge, but the authorities acted immediately, by installing a double fence to separate the counter-demonstrators.

According to Police estimates concerning attendance at rallies organised by political parties and civil groups, by the time the pro-government Procession for Peace reached Kossuth Square, where the prime Minister gave his speech, it had more than 400,000 participants attended the pro-government Procession for Peace, walking from inner Buda to Kossuth Square in front of the Parliament Building, where Prime Minister Viktor Orbán addressed the crowd; the rally organised by civic Facebook group Milla at Elizabeth Bridge was attended by nearly 20,000. A few thousand people attended radical nationalist Jobbik's event in Deák Square and several hundred people participated in former Prime Minister Gyurcsány’s Democratic Coalition's (DK) rally in Egyetem Square.

(Prime Minister’s Office)