Fidesz postpones main rally due to security risk

Fidesz has called off a rally planned on Saturday at Heroes Square after ministers warned that the state could not guarantee security due to alleged bombing attempts, party chairman Viktor Orbán told Kossuth Rádió on Thursday.

Fidesz chairman László Kövér and Christian Democrat István Simicskó, of the parliamentary defence and law enforcement committee, were briefed on Wednesday by two ministers about reports of bombing plans for the rally that had been received.

National council president László Kövér, who announced the decision to call off the rally, said: "hundreds of our volunteers would have guaranteed law and order. The recent disturbances serve cabinet interests. I have no proof that the cabinet is organising provocative acts, but it is not doing its best to quell the riots."

The governing parties, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány, the Democratic Forum and the Christian Democrats welcomed the deferral, but agreed that the decision was in the interests of safety. No decision was reached on when the rally will go ahead, but Fidesz vowed to stage it after the local elections. Jobbik also decided against calling its supporters onto the streets on Saturday.

Before the decision to call off the rally was made, Fidesz invited the leaders of ambulance, police and civil defence to make preparations for the rally, but only representatives from the ambulance service showed up.

Kövér said the police "bowed to political orders and refuse to comply with its duty as laid down by the law." The decision was made in the interests of peace and well-meaning people, Kossuth Rádió reported at midnight.

The above story is just one of more than two dozen published today by Hungary Around the Clock, the most comprehensive source of daily English-language news about Hungary. For a free trial of HATC, click here. Hungarian news sources include Népszabadság; Magyar Hírlap; Világgazdaság; Napi Gazdaság; Magyar Nemzet; Népszava; Kossuth Rádió news and Hungarian television's nightly news broadcast.

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