Hungarians protest again, this time peacefully

[stu]

Thousands of protesters flooded the center of Budapest on Tuesday again after Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's blunt admission he lied to win an election sparked outrage and riots a day earlier.

 

Monday's riots, in which over 150 people were hurt, followed the leak of a tape on Sunday in which Gyurcsany said he and his Socialist party had lied for four years about Hungary's budget in order to win a general election in April.

 

Over 10,000 again crammed a square in front of parliament, waving flags and calling for Gyurcsany to step down in Hungary's worst political crisis since communism collapsed in 1989.

 

Monday's violence took police -- and the nation as a whole -- by surprise. Hungary, which joined the European Union in 2004, has often been shown off as a model of democratic reform since the communists were ousted.

 

Police kept a close watch over the crowd and Reuters correspondents at the scene said that as of 2100 GMT there were no signs of violence.

 

Higher taxes and fees for healthcare and university tuition had prompted protests before the release of the tape sparked a violent backlash that weakened the Hungarian forint and other currencies across central Europe.

 

Gyurcsany, a 45-year-old millionaire facing his biggest crisis in two years as prime minister, has rejected calls to quit and instead vowed to press on with tough economic reforms.

 

"The longest and darkest night of the third Hungarian republic is behind us," Gyurcsany said on television referring to the period in Hungary following the collapse of Communism.

 

"This is not a revolution, this is not 1956, this is the betrayal of our great national history," he added later at a news conference referring to the Hungarian uprising against Soviet occupation 50 years ago.

 

HARD TO SURVIVE

 

The soaring budget deficit has forced Hungary to abandon plans to join the euro single currency in 2010, with analysts now saying 2014 is more realistic.

 

The protests come two weeks ahead of local elections on October 1 and follow a slump in the ruling Socialist Party's popularity to 25 percent in polls from 40 percent at the election.

 

Gyurcsany said his remarks, made to party faithful in May but leaked on Sunday, were meant as a call for reform and a pledge not to lie again, but the unprecedented bluntness of his admission -- peppered with foul language -- shocked the nation.

 

The main Fidesz opposition has urged the prime minister to go amid what it called a "moral crisis."

 

"A pathological liar can not step over his shadow," Fidesz leader Viktor Orban told a news conference.

 

Gyurcsany won April's election partly on a promise of tax cuts but has since imposed tax hikes and benefit cuts worth $4.6 billion in 2007 alone to curb Hungary's budget deficit which will surge to 10.1 percent of gross domestic product this year.

 

The protests are likely to continue with students set to hold a major demonstration on Thursday.

 

Istvan, a 28-year-old student who refused to give his last name, said the protests should continue until the government resigns, but they should remain peaceful.

 

"The government has lied, we knew that they lied, but this arrogance afterwards, that they try to explain that we spent too much, this is unacceptable," he said.

 

Analysts said they expect Gyurcsany will be able to hang on for now, but added the uproar could ultimately cost him his job.

 

"It will be very difficult for him to survive, not because his own party will back out, but because morality is a factor that's gaining importance in Hungarian politics," said Ervin Csizmadia, an analyst with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

 

"It's hard for me to imagine that it won't create a difficult, unsolvable problem in the medium term, especially as half of Hungary has completely lost its trust in him."

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060919/wl_nm/...c&printer=1