Some 4,000-5,000 people attended a rally held by the far right Jobbik party on Deák tér Sunday afternoon, many waving the red-and-white-striped "Árpád flags" as the party launched its European Parliament election campaign.

Earlier, the affiliated Magyar Gárda paramilitary group inaugurated 650 new members on Heroes Square. Jobbik leader Gábor Vona said the members "are writing a new chapter in Hungarian history".

Calvinist pastor Lóránt Hegedűs Jr. said "the darkest and dirtiest cabinet in the history of the world" is inciting those "inbred within a sub-culture" against the Hungarian people.

Hundreds of riot police were nearby and police sealed off the square as 1,500 people attended the inauguration.

At Deák tér, Vona said the country is accumulating debts because of the government and the central bank's policies. He demanded the establishment of a pure Hungarian-owned commercial bank, then asked supporters to join with five to six friends and form nationalist clubs.

He said it will become clear in the European elections that Jobbik is the new force in Hungary. Hungary needs a leader who will "end political, economic and Gypsy crime" simultaneously, he declared.

Liberal democracy has collapsed once and for all in Hungary, therefore a strong presidential system based on the Holy Crown is needed Vona continued.

Krisztina Morvai, who heads Jobbik's list of MEP candidates, said Deák tér is the most important site in Hungarian history because in 2006 demonstrators faced those who beat, struck and shot patriots on orders from "the insane Nero".

Later, Morvai said she will appeal to Parliament and to European forums because she was struck and kicked by police at the corner of Nádor utca and József Attila utca Sunday evening.