I shall also jump forward to something covered in more detail by the fifth diary: presently in Hungary, 23 October is a day of division, not a happy national celebration. This has been so for years, with the far-right disrupting celebrations even in cementeries.
Today, much trouble was expected beforehand in the course of the on-going right-to-far-right protests against PM Ferenc "I lied!" Gyurcsány, to the extent of many Budapesters going to the countryside as precaution. Which is ridiculous, ad so was the battle with the permanent protesters before Parliament: they had a permit (given my some inconsiderate idiot) until 25 October, so said that they won't move from the place while the official celebrities with foreign guests are kept on the same site. Then talks began about sharing the area, but police conducted those with a minimal offer designed to be inacceptable, and when talks broke down, protesters were pushed from the place by riot police...
If anything serious happens, I shall report that too in the comments. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
About the events of the day: the troubles are on-going.
The city is said to be full of policemen, and some subway stations are closed. One far-right group promised to close one side of all main roads into the capital, but there are no news yet of any actual action. A few thousand right-wing protesters, joined by a Polish delegaton, first walked from the biggest church to the site of the heaviest fighting in November 1956, then decided to go back to the Parliament and try to enter the place by force. Though the official ceremony is over, police stopped them, and then started to use tear gas and water cannon against them (the operation is now ongoing for about an hour). I have zero symphaty for both 'sides'.
The previous night, when police pushed the far-righters from the square, they confiscated a number of 'weapons', such as knives, hammers, gas masks, stones, metal balls -- though I'd say most of it was cooking utensilia:
A Polish guy, I hope Marek can say something about the uniform:
I wonder if you'll see this in the news:
If you look closely, these guys are skinheads donning a farmer and jacket as 'civilian' clothing. Regarding their text, note that most of the currently active ex-communist politicians weren't even born in 1956, and the rest were kids.
Things shall turn interesting again from 17h, when right-populist main opposition party Fidesz starts its mass rally. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Fidesz leader Orbán held his speech before tens of thousands. As now regular, a figure of the European People's Party also lent support: this time Winfried Martens, who in his speech drew a parallel between 1956 and now. Now the rally is over and people started going home, however, police is pushing the rioters towards the protesters.
While one policeman was stabbed, police applied rubber bullets from close range...
Star Wars:
Where the tear gas rounds land:
Where the rubber bullets impact:
*Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
The police aren't much better, reports say a lot of tear gas rounds miss their target, one even landed in the underpass of the main subway station (where three lines cross)... *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Is it normal to have ticket-checkers? Why not just use turnstiles? I thought the whole idea of people coming & asking for your tickets was odd. Though we do have them on regular (non-subway) trains. But they are exceedingly polite. And everyone always has a ticket. Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire
That was the director's concept :-) The subway as inferno. (As such it wasn't even that original -- maybe you saw Luc Besson's.)
Since it is in a country I know nothing about
I'm curious: why did you (like most foreigners) believe that the film plays in a real country? Was it the Budapest Traffic Company's ridicuous intro [was it in your DVD version BTW?]?
Let's just say I've seen a lot of bloodied Hungarian faces in the last 24 hours.
Heh, then my photo choices are as distorting as he MSM :-) On my photos, you see a single bloodied face, and reports are of less than a dozen similarly serious injuries. The lack of basic law and order is cordoned off along two main roads and involved no more than a few thousand at any moment (not hundreds of thousands like in 1956) -- worse than a month ago, but still not beyond the scale of a big football riot.
Is it normal to have ticket-checkers? Why not just use turnstiles?
I don't know why no turnstiles were installed originally, but I'm certain that they would severely limit capacity at rush hour. However, the ticket-checkers in real-life Budapest aren't specialised for the subway, and also control trams, trolleys and buses, where turnstyles would be a rather expensive solution. Also, in recent years, controls in the subway are conducted by groups of 6-10 controllers at the entrances, simultaneously at multiple stations -- when this was introduced, ticket purchases jumped by double figure percents.
Though we do have them on regular (non-subway) trains.
Controllers (who check tickets validated by passengers themselves with some machine) or conductors (who validate tickets)? The two are a different caste... The difference is not in politeness, but in the attitude of passengers without ticket towards them. (In a small part justified: some controllers, being paid for the number of culprits caught, try to catch regular month-card buyers who forgot to buy next month's in time.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
I mean, the Traffic Company boss's intro.
also control trams, trolleys and buses
Thinking of American urban buses I see on TV or in movies, I shal add: the buses here have frequent stops and carry lots of passengers, thus entry across a single door with the driver playing conductor is impossible. But you may know that from Moscow. (BTW, no ticket controllers on the Moscow metro?) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
The groups pushed around by police now number in the hundreds. The victims of police include a leader of Fidesz who was hit by a rubber bullet, allegedly as answer for asking why they apply violence at the Fidesz event. Some of the rioters also attacked police defending a synagogue, this time they were reportedly loudly denounced even by people leaving the Fidesz protests. Meanwhile, at the unveiling of a new 1956 memorial, some 500 people are shouting abuse at the appearing prominence.
