15 March as celebrated by the radical nationalists

Various nationalist parties and movements held rallies around Budapest on 15 March. Some speeches were entertaining, others bigoted and aggressive. Antisemitism was pervasive.

© Szegő Péter

A third person arrived, angrily asking the second: "What are you doing helping the enemy?"

Lorant Hegedus, a protestant priest, led a service in the Homecoming Church at 9am. It's fair to point out that Hegedus did not make any anti-semitic remarks during his impassioned speech - although many of his congregants were less restrained.

He decried godlessness, globalisation, commercial television, the government and - less vehemently - the parliamentary opposition. The bishop, who is expecting his 12th grandchild, emphasised the importance of family. He reminded the Hungarian nation of its "special role." " If the younger generations commit themselves to raising three or four children, then we won't dwindle - we will continue to be the biggest nation of the Carpathian basin. Life is about more than quality of life, the body about more than dress sense. We shouldn't stick to one or two children out of concern for our quality of life. After the Tatars came, there were 1.1m Hungarians. Nobody had a washing machine, a western car, nor indeed an eastern one. There were no colour televisions. But we still managed to grow to 15m Hungarians."