Budapest hangover

The police acted in accordance with the law

After the festive celebrations on October 23, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the events of 1956, Budapest yesterday found it difficult to return to normal life. Clashes between opposition supporters and police continued throughout Monday and throughout the night of October 24. The last “lines of defense” of the oppositionists were Rakoczi Avenue and the Erzsebet Bridge, blocked by barricades made of concrete slabs. One of the activists of the Hungarian Civil Union (FIDES), Imre Keresi, called on the defenders of the barricades to “armed uprising” and “repeat the feat of the participants in the 1956 revolution.” Only by four o'clock in the morning did a detachment of 500 police officers, using water cannons and tear gas grenades, manage to clear the bridge over the Danube, which is one of the main transport arteries of Budapest, of demonstrators.

Yesterday the situation looked calm, but broken windows, overturned containers of garbage, charred remains of barricades, and disrupted traffic in the center of the capital indicated that it was a hectic holiday for the residents of Budapest. According to emergency services workers, more than a hundred people were admitted to hospitals during the 24 hours of unrest. While participants in anti-government protests were injured mainly by rubber bullets and batons, police were injured by stones, pieces of metal fittings and bottles of burning gasoline.

The opposition even tried to use two Soviet T-34 tanks, which were exhibited as exhibits at a street exhibition dedicated to the events of 1956. One of the tanks was launched and moved against the police. However, due to a lack of fuel, he traveled only a hundred meters. The police smoked out the “crew” of the “thirty-four” from a steel box with tear gas. According to the director of the Museum of Military History, József Hollo, the Soviet tank was handed over to the organizers of the holiday without a battery, with a minimum amount of fuel. The director of the war museum believes that the battery on the tank was secretly installed by opposition supporters. The police began an investigation into the “tank scandal” case.

For more than a month and a half, Hungary has been living in an atmosphere of tension. The reason for the opposition protests was the admission made public on September 17 by Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany that the socialist government he headed hid the truth from the people about the crisis state of the national economy, which allowed the socialists to win the parliamentary elections in April of this year. After the prime minister's confession, the opposition put forward a demand for the resignation of the cabinet of ministers. The day before yesterday, anti-government protests by the opposition reached their climax, and a wave of pogroms swept across the Hungarian capital. The results of the unrest on the day of the national holiday were summed up at an emergency meeting of the National Security Council held last night. Having heard information about the situation in the city, Prime Minister Gyurcsany said, that the government and the forces of law and order were faced with “aggression by a minority of citizens,” which significantly spoiled the national holiday for the majority of Hungarians.

Hungarian political scientist Laszlo Keri explains the explosion of violence during the anniversary celebrations by the dissatisfaction of many citizens with the policies of the government, which uses “shock therapy” methods in the economy. According to the political scientist, the participants in the riots “felt like revolutionaries” and now “the further development of events in Hungary is taking on an unpredictable character.”

Hungarian Ambassador to Russia Arpad Székely told Vremya Novostey that street riots in Budapest arose due to opposition representatives violating the agreement to leave Kossuth Square during the festive events. “After some demonstrators refused to interrupt the demonstration taking place there and leave the square for the duration of the celebrations, the police were forced to use force against them,” the ambassador said. Mr. Szekely explained to VN: “The right to assembly and freedom of speech are regulated by law. In accordance with the law, the police have the right to suppress unauthorized events. In case of resistance to law enforcement officials, the police have every right to use force to suppress unrest. I assess the actions of the police as natural.”

Victor VOLODIN