Jews Call for Banning of Jobbik Party Meeting in London, Protesters Force Its Cancelation

The Jewish Chronicle
January 26, 2014

Protesting the Hungarian Jobbik Party in London.
Protesting the Hungarian Jobbik Party in London.

Anti-racist protestors have prevented the leader of the Hungarian neo-Nazi Jobbik Party from addressing a scheduled meeting in Holborn, central London.

Gabor Vona was due to speak at a rally of expatriate Hungarians at a venue near Holborn tube station. But an estimated 150 protestors gathered on the pavement outside stopping Jobbik supporters from leaving the station.

The protestors carried banners proclaiming “No to the Nazis” and kept up chants of “fascist scum, off our streets” and “Auschwitz, never again” while police moved them behind hastily erected barriers.

Scotland Yard confirmed that the event in Holborn had been cancelled.

Anti-racist group Hope Not Hate later tweeted that about 150 Jobbik supporters had gathered at Hyde Park to hear Mr Vona speak.

Earlier in the week, Jewish groups had called for the meeting to be banned. In a joint letter to Home Secretary Theresa May, the Board of Deputies, the Community Security Trust, London Jewish Forum and the Jewish Leadership Council said Jobbik “frequently espouses virulent antisemtism”.