GYURCSÁNY FOR RED STAR

A statement has been published signed by Ferenc Gyurcsány, Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs and other Socialist politicians, along with about 50 other public personalities demanding the lifting of the ban on the five-pointed red star and the permit to bear the symbol in public.

The occasion for the demand is that Attila Vajnai, vice chairman of the Labour Party has been taken in custody for wearing the red star. Mr Vajnai was detained on April 4 at Szabadság square at the Soviet war memorial for wearing the emblem of autocracy. Earlier Attila Vajnai has been condemned for this, on probation for a year. The statement initiated by the NGO ATTAC Hungary says Hungary is the only European state where the law forbids the use of the red star. The petition has been signed by Zita Gurmai MP and Edit Herczog MP (Hungarian Socialist Party), István Eörsi, author, Gáspár Miklós Tamás, philosopher, and Adam Wirth, philosopher, too. Ferenc Gyurcsány said there was no way to treat equally fascism and communism while Zsolt Nyitrai MP (Fidesz) said ’ Mr Gyurcsány had better sign the national petition of Fidesz to show his care for the real problems of Hungary’ while former Minister of Justice, István Balsai (Hungarian Democratic Forum) said the red star had to be banned as its use offends the memory of the victims of communism.

Translated by Péter Szentmihályi Szabó