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600 Magyar Gárda recruits take oath
The controversial Hungarian Guard (Magyar Gárda), a right wing paramilitary group,
inducted 600 new members Sunday (Oct 21) in a military-style ceremony amid
protests from the government and Jewish groups.
New members attended the event in Heroes' Square in Pest's District XIV, wearing white shirtsand black uniforms emblazoned with red and white Árpád stripes, a centuries old flag that hasbecome associated with Hungary's Nazi-allied Arrow Cross regime since WWII. Some 2,000people attended the oath-taking ceremony, which was photographed by many foreign tourists.
Fearing a resurgence of extremism, the governing Socialist party (MSzP) joined Jewish andRoma rights groups in placing large billboards with warnings along one of the capital's mainavenues, where Magyar Gárda members were to march.
The black-and-white signs, some showing Hungarian Nazi leaders during the war raising theirhands in a "Heil Hitler" salute, read, "History repeats itself. You can still turn back."
The Hungarian Arrow Cross regime was responsible for the deportation of some 450,000Hungarian Jews to Nazi death camps, mainly Auschwitz.
The Gárda was founded by the leadership of the far-right Jobbik party, and has sparked heatedpolitical debates over the past few months.
Its militant anti-gay, anti-Roma and anti-Semitic rhetoric has led Jewish and Roma rightsgroups to ask the government to ban the Gárda, although the organization claims it is focusingon mundane tasks since its establishment, such as cleaning cemeteries.
Constitution
According to the Gárda's constitution, they are to take active participation in response tonatural disasters, although no such organized activity was obvious during recent flooding inHungary.
Jobbik spokesman Levente Jónás told the AFP news agency, "The goal of Magyar Gárda is tofinish the transition from Communism." Asked how, Jónás said: "I cannot answer that questionright now."
Although the Gárda is closely related to Jobbik, it is not a party itself and doesn't intend toparticipate on the general elections.
In a correspondence with The Budapest Sun, when asked how it plans to accomplish its goal to"complete the change of the regime and save the Hungarian nation" other than by winning ademocratic election, Jobbik chairman and Magyar Gárda founder Gábor Vona wrote that thequestion was uninterpretable.
"I find the question itself outrageous and reject the implied prejudice entirely," he added.
24.10.2007
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600 Magyar Gárda recruits take oath - XpatLoop.com - Budapest sun archive http://www.budapestsun.com/news/59323
1 of 2 1/28/2011 4:01 PM