(Budapest Beacon) A Facebook group calling itself Talpra Magyar Hív A Szabadság (“On your feet Hungarian Freedom is Calling!”) is organizing a mass protest for Saturday, April 14th, at 5:30 pm. The event organizers of the “We are the majority” demonstration invite those to attend “who would like a free Hungary, and who want a hate-free politics and who even want life in this smothering environment.”
“We are meeting at the Opera House whence we will march to the Kossuth tér. On your feet, Hungary! We have to demonstrate for democracy and for freedom! We want to live here in Freedom in a free country!”
According to one of the organizers, the demonstration has the following goals:
- We have to make decisions about our future, not an unfair electoral system. In such a situation the crowd is our answer.
- Instead of hate-campaigns and incitement we want worthwhile discourse.
An independent country needs an independent media. In the digital age the media is the biggest trump card in the hands of power. Let’s boycott the propaganda media! - For our generation youth are faced with two choices: emigrate or revolution. We have chosen!
- We must not confuse the state with the current government. We need to drop the 2/3rds laws and adopt the American system in which no-one may serve more than two terms.
- Without youth there is no country, no future.
- This election decided not only about the next 4 years, but about the eastern orientation and the final touches of an illiberal state.
A subsequent post explains:
The Fidesz electoral system, the government’s hatred campaign squeezed the majority into a one-third minority. For this reason, we demand:
- A recount of the votes!
- In place of hate campaigns, a free press, an independent public media!
- Fair elections! A new election law!
- The opposition should not fight among themselves, but should stand with the majority!
- Hungary is your homeland, you are responsible for it!
The post concludes:
Come out! You are not alone. We are the majority!
As of 3 pm on Wednesday, April 11th, 26,000 Facebook users had replied that they were going and another 68,000 replied that they were interested.
According to merce.hu, one of the planned speakers will be Zsigmond Rékasi, a political activist whose computer was seized by police after an earlier protest. Rékasi was reportedly taken into custody Sunday night when, after a three and a half hour news blackout about the election results, spontaneous protests broke out in downtown Budapest on news that the ruling Fidesz-KDNP political alliance had received a two-thirds parliamentary majority.