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October 23, 2019 2:36 pm
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Hungarian Far-Right Mob Vandalizes Jewish Community Center in Budapest During Protest

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Demonstrators in Budapest marking the 1956 Hungarian uprising against Soviet rule. Photo: Screenshot.

Hungarian neo-fascists vandalized a Jewish community center in Budapest on Wednesday during a nationalist march in the center of the capital to commemorate the 1956 uprising against Soviet occupation.

Dozens of far-right activists converged at the Aurora community center — which was closed at the time — plastering the building with neo-Nazi stickers and setting fire to a rainbow flag at the entrance, local media outlets reported.

Adam Schönberger, the Aurora center’s director, told Budapest news hub Index that “dozens” of supporters of the far-right Legio Hungaria organization were involved in the vandalism. He said he had been alerted to the outrage, in which no one was injured, by residents of a neighboring building.

On its website decorated with Nazi-style iconography, Legio Hungaria said that Wednesday’s march was a “tribute to our predecessors, who fought against the oppressive red terror at the cost of their lives, their blood and their freedom, and a protest against the continued spread of new leftist ideas.”

A short-lived revolution against Soviet rule in Hungary began on Oct. 23, 1956 — a date seen by many Hungarians as a milestone in their struggle for freedom. Far-right groups have regularly attempted to exploit the anniversary since the collapse of communism 30 years ago.

Founded by the Hungarian-Jewish group Marom, the Aurora center opened in Budapest in 2014 “to connect cultural programs, civil and activist organizational work, community building and fun in an open community.”

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