The pro-government Civic Union Forum (CÖF) and associated CÖKA foundation is organising its 9th Peace March on Oct. 23, the day marking the 65th anniversary of the outbreak of Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, “for the cause of Hungarian sovereignty”, the chief organiser said on Monday.
László Csizmadia, the founder of CÖF, told a press conference that the aim of the march was “to send a message to Brussels”, as well as to the Hungarian opposition.
The message to Brussels is that “the rule of law in Hungary rests on Hungarian democracy”, he said, adding that “democracy is where people are free to express their opinion about matters affecting their future and can live their lives the way they want to”.
Referring to a police crackdown on protesters in 2006, during the previous Socialist-led administration, he spoke of “state terror” and “a republic tainted with blood”. The march will proceed along the route where the crackdown unfolded on Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Road and the Astoria junction, Csizmadia said.
featured image: the peace march in March 2018; via Zoltán Máthé/MTI