PM Orbán afraid of being booed in Budapest on 23 October?

Central commemorations of the 1956 anti-Soviet revolt will take place this year in Budapest and Zalaegerszeg, in western Hungary, the state secretary for international communications and relations told the public media on Thursday, ahead of the October 23 national holiday. PM Orbán will be in Zalaegerszeg. Some believe he would like to avoid a possible embarassing situation or conflict with protesters in Budapest. That is why he chose to celebrate the outbreak of the anti-Soviet Hungarian revolution of 1956 in a rural city.

Zoltán Kovács said all preparations had been made to celebrate the anniversary “with due dignity”. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will mark the holiday in Zalaegerszeg, and address the inauguration ceremony of a new visitors’ centre presenting the life of the late Cardinal József Mindszenty, said Kovács, who is head of the operative board overseeing the celebrations.

Celebrations will start on the afternoon of October 22, with a traditional commemoration in front of the Technical University, to be followed by a torchlight walk starting at 4pm to Bem Square, the site of another commemoration an hour later.

On Sunday, ceremonies will start in the morning by hoisting the national flag in front of Parliament, Kovács said. The prime minister will speak in Zalaegerszeg at 10.30am, he added. Kovács said there would be some 400 commemorations nationwide, including “just a few political demonstrations”.

Recently, there were multiple demonstrations in Budapest because of government measures and the low wages of the Hungarian teachers.

Source: MTI