HUNGARY: Hungarians commemorate 50th anniversary of uprising against Soviet rule as anti-government protesters gather on streets

Police and anti-government protesters clashed on Monday (October 23), in Budapest as a deeply divided Hungary commemorated the 50th anniversary of the country's 1956 uprising against Soviet rule. State news agency MTI said there had been 10 arrests and that some protesters had been beaten as police sought to move them further from parliament, the site of official celebrations for state officials and more than 50 foreign dignitaries. The anniversary has been marred by a month of protests sparked by Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's admission he had lied about the economy to win elections in April, exacerbating deep divisions in the country of 10 million people. Even before that leaked speech, many on the right questioned whether the Socialists, the direct successors of the communists whose rule was cemented for 33 more years when Soviet troops put down the uprising, should be allowed to lead the celebrations. Inside parliament, Gyurcsany said in 1956 Hungarians had no choice but to rebel, but that now the country, which held its first free post-communist elections in 1990 and joined the European Union in 2004, was a modern democratic state. But for the protesters, whose camp outside parliament was cleared on Monday ahead of the official celebrations, the words of a man who said "we lied in the morning, we lied in the evening" to win in April, were a betrayal of the ideals of 1956. Some 2,600 Hungarians died battling Soviet troops, more than 200 were executed for their role in the uprising and 200,000 fled the country. As anniversary events moved inside parliament protesters kept marching along the streets of Budapest. By midday in Budapest, around 3,000 people chanting "'56, '56" and "traitor", including some with scarves covering their faces, were assembled at Corvin Square, where thousands battled 50 years ago. Some of them vowed to return to parliament. . Meanwhile, the Hungarian parliament's ruling coalition party representatives and visiting foreign delegates and high officials gathered in the ceremonial Upper Chamber of Parliament. A ceremonial freedom declaration of Budapest was passed to commemorate the heroes of 1956 and celebrate freedom and democracy. In his speech Hungarian prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany eferred to the current unrest on the streets of Budapest. "In 1956 the majority chose the street. They had no other choice because the street with its disorder and spontaneity expressed the will of the people better and it was more democratic than the parliament of the dictatorship. Today this is not the situation. Despite the often justified disappointment and dissatisfaction, the majority believes in the parliamentary democracy above any other means to express the will of the people, to make laws and programme for the free Hungary," Ferenc Gyurcsany said. EU president Jose Manuel Barroso praised the Hungarian heroes in Hungarian first, then he said: "The European Union salutes the Hungarian heroes. Thank you. To the heroes of 1956 who are here, and to those who died for what they have left us, a Europe united, a Europe of freedom and democracy. Their sacrifice was not in vain. Thank you." The main right-of-centre Fidesz opposition party, which wants Gyurcsany to quit and is boycotting his speeches in parliament, is due to hold a rally later today in the centre of Budapest.

ITN Source | October 23, 2006

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