This is a guest post by Karl Pfeifer, a veteran anti-fascist and journalist based in Vienna. His report here is based upon translations from the Hungarian press

On October 25, 400 new members of the Hungarian Guard, including some children, took the oath of the extreme right-wing movement in Budapest’s Heroes Square.

The event marked the Hungarian Guard’s fourth oath-taking ceremony. Speakers at the event emphasized that the Hungarian Guard, founded by the extreme right-wing Jobbik party, could not be destroyed by the government or by creating tensions within the Guard.

The members of the Guard marched to Heroes Square, which was closed by a cordon, where they took the oath on a copy of the Hungarian crown. One six year old girl fainted. Outside the cordon, about 500 sympathizers watched the event. Nearby, large numbers of police were present.

Lóránt Hegedüs jun, an antisemitic clergyman, criticized the leadership of his own Reformed Church because they declared the Hungarian Guard “enemies of the gospel and the church.” He called those who left the Hungarian Guard traitors. (The former commander of the Guard, István Dósa, has started a new guard. Their members took the oath on October 26 in Székesfehérvár.)

Lajos Für, former Minister of Defense (1990-1994), predicted “a political landslide” and said therefore the Guard must be strong and firm.

Mária Wittner, a member of parliament from the conservative Fidesz party, demanded that Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány and Hungarian politicians declare, “I am not member of an interest group working against my homeland and I will not harm Hungary deliberately.”

Gábor Vona, leader of the Jobbik party and the Hungarian Guard, spoke about the expected “downfall of the neoliberal world domination”.

After a demonstration of the Hungarian Guard on December 9, 2007, the General Attorney of Budapest started legal proceedings to dissolve the uniformed paramilitary militia. These proceedings were launched on March 12 this year, but the judge who was to deal with the case received threats in August and a new judge was nominated. The next session will take place on December 15, 2008

According to the Budapest daily “Népszava,” Gábor Vona threatened two big commercial TV stations, TV2 and RTLKlub, during an event of the Hungarian Guard on October 23. He said: “they should fear the day when we seize power, because we will destroy their headquarters to the ground, we will show the editors where they have to leave Hungary”.