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Ah, they started already today. Starting from a legal protest, the idiots'-revolution branch of the local far right started an illegal march towards the Opera, where an official 1956 commemoration was held, which as now traditional, turned into riots.

It seems both sides got more professional. The Molotov cocktail throwers seem to aim better (at the water-cannon cars), and the car-burners now also push the cars in the way of the water cannon cars; while police had no trouble putting out the fires, and so far dispersed every larger group. As a consequence, the riots now turned into chasing groups from a few dozen up to two hundred all across the inner city...

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Mon Oct 22nd, 2007 at 03:34:36 PM EST
Forgot: this band of rioters doesn't seem to be intent on making any friends, thesy again beat two journalists (and I guess the owners of those cars won't join their revolution, either).

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Mon Oct 22nd, 2007 at 03:38:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Oh goodie. My route to Bulgaria lies through budapest in about 3 weeks. Will it be over then ?

Fancy showing a girl a night out on the town ? Dunno the date yet, just flying a kite.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Oct 22nd, 2007 at 03:38:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes, it should be over in two weeks by the latest, when the 1956 anniversaries are over. But even during riots, you can walk other parts of the city :-)

We may meet up, though a night out may be problematic, as I no longer live in Budapest (now only work there).

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Mon Oct 22nd, 2007 at 04:03:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
So, normal October festivities in Budapest, then. (:

Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.
by metavision on Mon Oct 22nd, 2007 at 03:41:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That's the right attitude :-)

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Mon Oct 22nd, 2007 at 04:00:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Reading Index.hu, some additional info:

  • Presently it seems only three groups remained, each only a few dozen and currently nonviolent.

  • Traffic re-started on most main streets, and there are a lot of pedestrians: Budapesters grew 'used' to the mess :-)

  • Numbers: few thousand at the legal protest, a few hundred in the illegal march, and Index.hu reporters estimated about 100 violent rioters. That's much less than last year, but we'll see if it stays so low tomorrow and in early November.

  • The leader of the march away from the legal protest, who was also the initiator of events last September that turned into the first riot, was arrested at the place of today's first violence (so far he always avoided being directly linked to violent acts).

  • The photographer of Reuters was hit on the head with a (thrown) beer bottle. When Index.hu's reporter asked the police for help, they told him to call ambulance himself...

The policemen (unlike last year) can now be identified, the rioters feel themselves in Belfast or Gaza:

Water-cannon car putting out the fire set to a car turned on its side:



*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Mon Oct 22nd, 2007 at 03:57:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Now they report that the last group of protesters were dispersed. That it began to rain heavily might have helped...

Beyond the two journos, reportedly only three protesters and policemen were hurt (whether 2:1 or 0:2 is unspecified), much lower than last year. It seems police self-protection became more efficient, because the rioters now not only threw stones and Molotov cocktails at them, but glass (bottles), too.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Mon Oct 22nd, 2007 at 04:08:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Some french media (Le Monde?) reported yesterday the public swearing-in ceremony for ~600 new members of the paramilitary far right in Budapest. It said that gypsies were the main targets of their activities. Plus ca change ...
by Fete des fous on Mon Oct 22nd, 2007 at 04:22:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The Gypsies are the main targets of skinheads -- if the Hungarian Guard members would take part in beatings in uniform, that sure would make it easy to outlaw the group.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Mon Oct 22nd, 2007 at 04:58:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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