Budapest police on alert for divisive WWII-linked events

Hungarian police were on alert Saturday ahead of divisive annual WWII-linked events in Budapest that sparked violence between neo-Nazis and anti-fascist activists in the past.

European far-right groups gather in Budapest each year for the so-called “Day of Honour” to mark a failed attempt by Nazi and Hungarian troops in 1945 to break out of the city during the Soviet army’s siege.

While some events have been banned — including neo-Nazi concerts which are still scheduled to take place at undisclosed locations this year — an annual “memorial hike” attracting more than 3,000 participants is being held.

Anti-fascist activists are expected to protest against what they see as the glorification of Nazism.

Police have been on heightened alert, patrolling the streets with the help of drones, dogs and special operations vehicles.

For far-right groups, the soldiers trying to break out of besieged Budapest in 1945 were “protecting Western Europe against the threat of the Red Army,” said researcher Hunyadi Bulcsu of the Political Capital think tank.

But since the attempt was carried out “in the name of Nazi Germany”, it cannot be “glorified” in any way, Bulcsu told AFP.

In 2023, the commemorations were overshadowed by violent attacks by far-left activists from abroad.

Several activists have since been prosecuted and could face prison sentences.

One of the far-left activists, an Italian teacher arrested for attacking neo-Nazis in Budapest, made international headlines when she appeared in a Hungarian court in early 2024, with her feet shackled.

– Extraditions –

Ilaria Salis has since been released from house arrest due to the immunity she obtained following her election to the EU parliament.

Public prosecutors had sought an 11-year jail term for her.

Another suspect, a German, was extradited to Hungary last year, a decision severely criticised by Germany’s federal constitutional court this week.

The top court said the extradition order for Maja T., who identifies as non-binary, had failed to take account of potentially dangerous prison conditions in Hungary, including anti-LGBTQ measures adopted under Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Six people suspected of participating in the attacks in Budapest turned themselves in to German authorities last month in a bid to avoid extradition to Hungary.

An Albanian activist, who is also being prosecuted, is contesting his extradition from France.

French courts have asked Budapest for guarantees concerning the conditions of his detention.

The Hungarian government has warned it will do everything to avoid a repeat of 2023.

“We consider it unacceptable to organise a manhunt, whether on the streets of Budapest or anywhere else,” warned Deputy Interior Minister Bence Retvari.

“No ideology… can justify the beating of randomly selected people to a bloody pulp,” he added, singling out left-wing activists for past violence.

Although Hungarian right-wing extremists were also charged for attacking suspected anti-fascists two years ago, their case was much less publicised.

Hungary’s Orban, in power since 2010, has often been accused of democratic backsliding and historical revisionism.

In 2017, the nationalist premier came under fire for praising wartime leader and Hitler ally Miklos Horthy as an “exceptional statesman”.

Horthy, who ruled Hungary from 1920 to 1944, passed anti-Jewish laws and oversaw the deportations of several hundred thousand Hungarian Jews to Nazi death camps.

Dismissing criticism, Orban has vowed “zero tolerance” for anti-Semitism, boasting that Hungary is “the safest country in Europe for the Jewish community”.ros/anb-kym/ach