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Riots mar Hungary 1956 uprising commemoration

23 Oct 2006 22:23:54 GMT
Source: Reuters

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Anti-government protestors gather in front of the Corvin cinema which was the scene of heavy fighting in 1956, in Budapest October 23, 2006. Police and anti-government protesters clashed on Monday in Budapest as a deeply divided Hungary commemorated the 50th anniversary of the country's 1956 uprising against Soviet rule.
REUTERS/LASZLO BALOGH

(Updates injured, prime minister laying rose at 1956 monument)

By Sandor Peto and Gergely Szakacs

BUDAPEST, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Hungarian police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at thousands of anti-government protesters on Monday, marring commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the 1956 uprising against Soviet rule.

Police also used water cannon and some protesters lobbed stones and other missiles at them. The ambulance service said 40 people had been injured although there were no life-threatening injuries. A policeman was stabbed in the hand.

Protesters took to the streets more than a month ago following the admission by Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany in a leaked speech that he lied about the economy to win national elections in April.

As police pushed the crowd of mostly far-right protesters back towards a peaceful rally by the right of centre Fidesz opposition, demonstrators seized a Soviet-era T-34 tank -- on show for the commemorations -- and drove it at police.

"The whole crowd started cheering. The police started firing teargas, then the tank stopped," Reuters cameraman Fedja Grulovic said.

Reuters reporters said police had fired hundreds of teargas rounds and used mounted police to clear protesters from the streets and paving stones had been thrown at the lines of police in riot gear.

Fidesz spokesman Tamas Deutsch-Fur complained the police had "committed brutal and inexplicable violence against peaceful people" in pushing the demonstrators into its rally and the main opposition party said one of its MPs had been injured by police.

Gyurcsany has defied calls for him to quit, and backed by his Socialists and the Free Democrat parliamentary allies won a vote of confidence to carry on with his tough economic policies.

In parliament, the prime minister said Hungarians in 1956 had no choice but to rebel and the country, which held its first free elections in 1990 and joined the European Union in 2004, was now a modern, democratic state.

"Despite the often justified disappointment and discontent, the majority of Hungarians believe that parliamentary democracy is the most suited to express people's will and to create law and give a programme to a free Hungary," he said.

Gyurcsany was later whistled as he placed a white rose on a new sculpture to those who died in 1956. Some 2,600 Hungarians died battling Soviet troops, more than 200 were executed and 200,000 fled the country.

A COUNTRY DIVIDED

Even before Gyurcsany's speech was leaked on Sept. 17, many on the right questioned whether celebrations should be led by the Socialists, heirs of the communists whose rule was cemented for 33 more years after Soviet troops put down the uprising.

"I am here because we have to fight this government, we have to destroy them," said Laszlo Toth, aged 76.

"Aged 19 I was arrested and taken to (secret police headquarters in) Andrassy Street, I confessed to everything so they would stop beating me. I am here for the younger generation," he said.

Fidesz leader Viktor Orban urged protesters to refrain from violence. He told the rally estimated by state news agency MTI at 100,000 people that the nation was facing an "illegitimate" government and demanded a referendum on its economic reforms.

When campaigning in the elections, Gyurcsany promised tax cuts. He reversed tack after he held on to power and imposed a series of tax rises and benefit cuts to rein in the budget deficit which will hit 10.1 percent of GDP this year.

"The current confusion is because of one man, who has driven the country into a political and a moral crisis by misleading the people," Orban told the rally.

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Last updated:Mon Oct 23 22:25:13 2006