Thousands march in Budapest to support Orban amid election challenges

Pro-government demonstrators march during celebrations marking the 69th anniversary of the outbreak of Hungary’s 1956 revolution against communist rule and the Soviet Union, in Budapest, Hungary. Picture: Rudolf Karancsi/AP

Thousands of Hungarians congregated on the streets of Budapest in a show of force on behalf of their leader, Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who six months ahead of parliamentary elections looks set to face the most competitive ballot in his 15 years in power.

The gathering, dubbed a “peace march” by organisers, came on Hungary’s October 23 national holiday, a remembrance of a failed anti-Soviet uprising in 1956 that was crushed by the Red Army.