"The City of Rome will switch off the lights of the ancient Colosseum amphitheater on Sunday, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, in protest against what the city called anti-Semitic, xenophobic acts by Hungary’s Jobbik party. The move shows rising international pressure on Jobbik. The credentials of a Jobbik representative to the Council of Europe, Tamas Gaudi Nagy, were challenged earlier this week when some fellow representatives said the party’s values were in conflict with the Council of Europe’s ideals and principles. The credentials were eventually accepted Wednesday.
Switching off the Colosseum’s lights is a traditional form of protest in Rome. In 2012, Rome turned off the lights in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the massacre of two anti-Mafia judges. Hungary’s ambassador to Italy has been invited to the Colosseum event, which the president of Rome’s Jewish community, Riccardo Pacifici, will attend.
'Today, a European country is living the nightmare of anti-Semitism, jumping back to the past, taking us back to the 1930s,' Mr. Pacifici said. He said Jobbik lawmakers attend Parliament sessions wearing brown shirts and uniforms resembling those worn by a paramilitary wing of the German Nazi Party in the 1920s and 1930s. He also said party members tend to march in some Hungarian villages in a paramilitary fashion."