Hungarians hold biggest rally against prime minister

[stu]

By Sandor Peto

1 hour, 51 minutes ago

 

 

 

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people poured into Budapest's parliament square on Saturday in the biggest rally so far against Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany over his admission that he lied to the electorate.

 

More demonstrators were still arriving in the late afternoon to join at least 30,000 already in the large square in front of the huge neo-Gothic parliament building, where protests have been held for the past week.

 

The demonstrations have widened the bitter division between the governing left and the rightist opposition, each accusing the other of fomenting violence to win ground ahead of local elections on October 1.

 

Some of the protesters were from far-right groups and there was concern about possible violence as local soccer team Ferencvaros, some of whose supporters are known for hooliganism and hatred of the government, were playing a home game.

 

Thousands of supporters of Fidesz, the main opposition party which canceled its own rally because of fears of violence, were among those gathering in the square, and party leaders reiterated earlier calls for Gyurcsany to quit.

 

Fidesz Deputy President Pal Schmitt, in a brief speech outside parliament, asked the crowd to wear white clothes and white armbands to show they reject violence, and about half the crowd were wearing some white clothing.

 

Fidesz leader Viktor Orban told private InfoRadio that Gyurcsany had broken the law. "We are dealing with a chronic liar, that's clear," he said, referring to Gyurcsany's remarks, on a tape leaked to media, that his party had lied "in the morning and in the evening" to win re-election in April.

 

Violence erupted after his remarks were aired and the protests against his admitted mendacity have swollen over the past week.

 

"There are more and more people coming. There will be a lot of people here tonight," said Aletta Peller, 31, who traveled from the northwestern town of Veszeprem to join the rally. "We want a real democracy... one without lies."

 

The turmoil in Budapest coincides with a political shakeup in Poland and the Czechs' failure to form a new government more than three months after an election, and added to investors' concern about political instability in central Europe.

 

POLICE ON ALERT

 

Police said they were on alert, intent on preventing a repeat of violence earlier in the week when demonstrators pelted officers with cobblestones, torched cars and stormed the state television building.

 

Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky said more protesters were arriving in the capital from the countryside. "The situation is likely to be made worse by the (Ferencvaros) soccer match ... it can be expected that the fans will head toward Kossuth (parliament) square after the match," Demszky said.

 

Gyurcsany, a 45-year-old millionaire, has rejected opposition calls to quit and won his party's backing for a package of budget cuts to rein in a huge deficit, which has surged to 10.1 percent of gross domestic product after four years of overspending.

 

(Additional reporting by Balazs Koranyi and Andras Gergely)