page_title: Flag desecration
section_title: Hungary
hierarchical_section_title: Flag desecration / By jurisdiction / Hungary
caption_attribution_description: English: A flag from the 1956 Hungarian Revolution on the memorial to the victims located outside the Hungarian Parliament Building
context_page_description: Flag desecration is the desecration of a flag, violation of flag protocol, or various acts that intentionally destroy, damage, or mutilate a flag in public. In the case of a national flag, such action is often intended to make a political point against a country or its policies. Some countries have laws forbidding methods of destruction or forbidding particular uses; such laws may distinguish between desecration of the country's own national flag and flags of other countries.
context_section_description: During a demonstration at the beginning of the Hungarian revolution of 1956 someone in the crowd cut out the communist coat of arms from the Hungarian flag, leaving a distinctive hole, and others quickly followed suit. The "flag with a hole" became a symbol of the Hungarian resistance. The practice of cutting out the communist coat of arms was also followed by other Eastern Bloc countries, such as Romania, especially during the Revolutions of 1989.
caption: 1956 Revolution Flag flying in front of the Hungarian Parliament Building
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