Disgust at Hungarian rally for Hitler deputy

Hungary’s president said today he is outraged about a planned neo-Nazi rally remembering Rudolf Hess, deputy to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

President Laszlo Solyom said in a statement that the rally planned for Saturday by Hungarian and foreign neo-Nazi groups is “unwanted” and says he is confident that Hungarians reject the celebration of a war criminal and Nazi ideology.

Hess was sentenced to life in prison for war crimes at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi officials and committed suicide on August 17, 1987, at the Spandau prison in Germany where he was being held.

Budapest police, who have the power to ban rallies under certain circumstances, say they will announce their position about the Hess commemoration tomorrow.