"Crack Down on Rioters....!"
Hungarian Premier, Mayor Urge Police to Crack Down on Rioters
By Alex Kuli and Balazs Penz
Sept. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, under pressure to resign, and Budapest's mayor urged police to crack down harder on protesters who have led two nights of rioting in the capital city.
The pleas during a joint press conference came after more than 250 people were injured in riots with police. Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky, who is seeking a fifth term in Oct. 1 municipal elections, called the rioters """criminals""" and urged them to be "pushed off the streets.''
[A small reminder: this very same man now a mayor of Budapest, Gabor Demszky, during the reign of the communist Kádár-regime 1980's, as member of an "anti-communist movement" was beaten, tortured by the secret police and pushed off the street! But hey, that was a long time ago! Wasn't it? And who remembers stuff like this anyway? A "hero" who became a torturer and dictator"! Who says he can't do the same things against others, when he sits on the almighty throne?
In the 1980's, Hungary's Number One "anti-communist hero" Demszky, -- while on tour in Canada collecting sympathy and money --, gave speeches about "the brutality of the regime in Hungary". In the Roman Catholic church's cultural center in Montreal, he was celebrated in the company of about 600 weeping souls, where about 2000 dollars was collected on the spot for the continuation of "his fight" for democracy! Nice accomplishment, Mr. Demszky! /Hazánkért/]``I won't be calm,'' said Demszky at the press conference today. ``These extremist elements continued to wreak havoc on our city. They tried to occupy more public areas and to damage public institutions.''
The riots, the worst since the end of communism, were sparked by a leaked tape in which Gyurcsany admitted the Socialist-led government misled the public about the need to cut spending before April general elections. Gyurcsany rejected calls to quit and pledged to continue his economic program and trim the deficit, the European Union's largest compared with the size of its economy.
About 50 people were taken to hospital in riots overnight and 24 officers were injured as several hundred protesters lit fires and hurled stones at riot police. Mounted officers using flare guns, tear gas and a water cannon dispersed the crowds by 4:45 a.m. and detained 98 people, Hungarian Police Chief Peter Gergenyi said. Between 50-60 protesters remained outside parliament today.
President Meeting -- Gyurcsany, who last night admitted he briefly considered stepping down, met President Laszlo Solyom and Parliament Speaker Katalin Szili at 11 a.m. in Budapest. In the first night of violence, about 200 people were injured as protesters stormed the headquarters of state television, burning cars and beating back a police attack.
The expletive-laden tape recording was leaked to several media outlets on Sept. 17. Gyurcsany later published the full text in his Internet diary. He was calling for the start of a cleansing process in Hungarian politics, he said.
``We screwed it up, big time,'' Gyurcsany said on the leaked tape of the meeting. ``No country in Europe has been so blatant. We obviously lied throughout the past 1 1/2 to 2 years. And meanwhile, we didn't do a thing for four years. Nothing.''
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