BUDAPEST, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban vowed to defend the country's future and traditional way of life here on Thursday in a mass rally on the occasion of the national holiday, three weeks ahead of the general elections.
March 15 is the national holiday of Hungary, marking the anniversary of the 1848 revolution against the Austrian Empire. The Hungarian capital hosted many ceremonies marking the revolution that started 170 years ago.
"The day has come again, when the hearts of every Hungarian people is fulfilled, the day when the word freedom has been written in the book of world history in Hungarian," Orban said at a ceremony at Kossuth Square in front of the Hungarian Parliament building.
"In three weeks, we have yet again to decide about Hungary's fate, we have fought many fights, but the biggest fight is yet to come," he added.
"They want to steal our country, to give it up to foreigners in a few decades, coming from far away, who don't speak our language, who don't respect our laws and our way of life," Orban said.
The supporters of Orban, who also came to Budapest from the countryside as well as from Poland with buses, marched some two kilometers in a show of support for Orban before the general elections, in which Orban will try to win a third consecutive term.
Orban's campaign has been focused on a fierce anti-immigration message, which he conveyed here as well: "We do not want to only win an election, but we want to win our future," he declared. "This is our home, our life, the only one and we will fight for it until the end," he added.
He said that the opposition was made up of "Soros candidates", after the Hungarian-born American billionaire, whom he accused of organizing international migration waves through his network of NGOs.
The fight has to focus on against "Soros' empire", and not on the opposition parties, he explained.
He warned that Europe and Hungarians within have come to a historical turning point, the globalist and national powers have never been so openly confronted to one another. "Europe and Hungary are in the middle of a combat of civilizations, facing migration that endangers our traditional way of life," he stressed.
After Orban's speech in the afternoon, the two main opposition formations, the leftist coalition and the former radical Jobbik, that became more moderate in the recent years, also held ceremonies, but attracted significantly less people, a few thousands here and there.
This does not seem to be an immediate concern as Orban's Fidesz party is leading with a very large margin in the polls.
Gabor Vona, the President of the Jobbik party, the second strongest according to the polls, said that the victory of his party would bring back freedom to Hungary and would eradicate corruption.
Finally, the busy day of the Hungarian capital saw a students' demonstration, close to the Opera house in the city. They demonstrated for the modernization of the education system and to stop the brain drain of young Hungarians, who leave the country by masses to study and live in Western Europe.
