Violent Clashes in Budapest

On 23 October 2006, mass demonstrations marking the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution escalated into violent clashes. By then, riots had been ongoing in Budapest for weeks, ever since Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány’s “Öszöd speech” was leaked on 17 September. Although the series of events was not fueled by antisemitism, following police brutality, far-right groups exploited the events to radicalize their supporters and spread antisemitic narratives portraying the government as “under foreign control” or “anti-Hungarian.” The events of 2006 also brought to the mainstream extremist political figures who spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.