Hungary's capital city saw a sea of people descend on its streets on Sunday to attend an anti-Nazi rally against a far-right lawmaker's proposal to screen Jews for national security risks. The protest, organized by Jewish and civil rights groups, received a wide support from both opposition parties and the government.
Marton Gyongyosi, a leader of Hungary's largest far-right party "the Hungarian Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik), told the Parliament last week that it was time "to assess ... how many people of Jewish origin there are here, and especially in the Hungarian parliament and the Hungarian government, who represent a certain national security risk," the Washington Post reported. Speaking during a Nov. 26 parliamentary debate on Israel's military offensive on the Gaza Strip, Gyongyosi said drawing up lists of Hungarian Jews were necessary after the Gaza conflict and that the lists should include lawmakers and other officials.
Nearly 10,000 people thronged outside the neo-Gothic parliament building in Budapest in protest of his controversial remarks, holding portraits of Gyongyosi with a Hitler moustache. The rally also witnessed a rare show of unity as politicians belonging to the ruling center right government and the left-leaning opposition came together to be a part of the mass demonstration against Nazism.
The rally was attended by many leaders including the parliamentary group leader of the ruling Fidesz party Antal Rogán, former Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai, and Israeli and American ambassadors. According to various estimates, over 550,000 Hungarian Jews were killed in the Holocaust. A historical home to Jews, Hungary currently has a Jewish population of about 100,000.
