OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 53, 17 March 1997

LARGE EXTREME-RIGHTIST RALLY ON HUNGARY'S NATIONAL DAY. Some 50,000
people gathered for a rally organized by the Hungarian Justice and Life
Party on 15 March to protest government policies, Hungarian media
reported. The extra-parliamentary party's leader, Istvan Csurka,
demanded the registration of all foreigners in Hungary and spoke against
European integration efforts. "The demands imposed on the nation by the
International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and [billionaire
philanthropist George] Soros cannot be met," Csurka said, suggesting
Hungary was being exploited by foreign banking interests and presumably
including Soros because he is a Hungarian-born Jew. Another rally was
held in front of the U.S. Embassy by a neo-Nazi party led by Albert
Szabo, who told some 300 uniformed followers and a few onlookers that
they are "fighting Zionist capitalism's takeover of Hungary." A national
holiday in commemoration of the 1848-1849 fight against Austrian rule,
the 15 March anniversary has been exploited by extremist groups for
years. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

HUNGARY CELEBRATES NATIONAL DAY WITH ROMANIAN PREMIER. Visiting Romanian
Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea joined thousands of Hungarians across
Hungary and in neighboring countries in marking the 149th anniversary of
the 1848-1849 revolution. His greeting of the Hungarian national day --
both in Romanian and in Hungarian- was unprecedented in recent
democratic politics and was subsequently criticized by Romanian
nationalists. Speakers urged national cohesion and promoted social and
economic progress as inevitable for the advancement of the nation.
Simultaneously with government speeches, opposition politicians also
held rallies, campaigning against the government. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

ARTIST VICTOR VASARELY DIES AT 89. World-famous Hungarian-born French
painter Victor Vasarely died in Paris on 15 March, international media
reported. Born Gyozo Vasarhelyi in 1908 in Pecs, southern Hungary, he
settled down in Paris in 1930. With his geometrical works playing on
optical illusions, he held a leading role in the Op Art movement of the
1960s. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

ROMANIA'S HUNGARIANS CELEBRATE 1848 REVOLUTION. In several towns in
Transylvania, Romania's Magyar community on 15 March marked the
anniversary of the 1848 revolution. Unlike in previous years, when the
celebrations met the hostility of the government and of Romanian
nationalists who attribute to the Magyars irredentist intentions over
Transylvania, this year Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea sent a message to
the Romanian Hungarian minority and government officials participated in
the ceremonies. The Party of Social Democracy in Romania, on the other
hand, protested that the government was marking "the anniversary of
another state" and recalled "atrocities" committed by the 1848
revolutionaries against ethnic Romanians in Transylvania. As expected,
the Party of Romanian National Unity and the Greater Romania Party also
protested against the celebrations. -- Michael Shafir

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Jan Cleave