Budapest - Police in Budapest on Sunday night blocked members of the right-wing organization the Hungarian Guard from marching in a commemoration ceremony. About 500 Guard members were surrounded by police before they could embark on a march in honour of authoritarian right-wing Hungarian leader Miklos Horthy, who lived from 1868 to 1957. Eight people were briefly detained.
The Guard was banned by a Hungarian court in July because of its paramilitary character.
The march in honour of Horthy, called by ultra-nationalist party Jobbik, proceeded without the Guard. About 1,000 people in civilian garb participated. The march commemorated the 90th anniversary of Horthy's arrival in Budapest, when he took control of Hungary in the wake of World War I.
Horthy, who considered Budapest to be a "sinful city" for its progressive political scene, unleashed his forces on the capital, resulting in the White Terror, in which thousands of Hungarians, predominantly socialists and communists, died. Jobbik considers Horthy to be one of the party's historical predecessors.
