With the approach of the Oct. 23 national holiday marking Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, “Russia’s war in Ukraine and its gas blackmail of Europe”, it is worth raising the question of what the monument is doing in a square named after liberty, Jobbik parliamentary group leader László György Lukács told a press conference.

The monument, he said, “offends our sense of justice and makes a mockery of the memory of 1956 and Hungarians’ sense of freedom”.

Lukács said that contrary to public opinion, there was nothing stopping Hungary from removing the monument from the square, arguing that there were no longer any Soviet soldiers buried in the country.

He said the decision on where the monument should be moved to should be left up to historians. He asked “parties that consider themselves right wing”, such as the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance and opposition Mi Hazánk, to support his party’s draft resolution.

“This is the chance for everyone to show from where they are or aren’t being dictated conditions and that for us Hungarian self-determination and independence is the most important argument and goal,” Lukács said.