Machine gun rounds fired at Hungarian police HQ

By: All Hungary News

Around 15 shots were fired at the Teve utca (District XIII) headquarters of the Hungarian Police early Tuesday morning. The gunmen used an automatic weapon, probably an AK machine gun. The shots damaged the building between the sixth and the 13th floors but nobody was injured. Shell casings probably originating from the weapon used at the attack were found at the parking lot of the nearby Attila József Theater later in the morning.

 

More than ten shell casings were discovered on the ground, leading to conclusions that the shots were not fired from a moving car but from a standing position. National Police Spokesperson László Garamvölgyi said there were eyewitnesses of the incident including the parking lot attendant and police officers standing in front of the building.

 

Officers arriving at work this morning noticed that windows of the headquarters were broken, which they thought was "a meaningless thing." The damage caused by the shots is clearly visible from the parking lot. To avoid accidents caused by falling glass, the main entrance can be reached only through the parking lot.

 

According to daily Népszabadság, a black Volkswagen Golf with no front license plate displayed drove along Teve utca towards Róbert Károly körút at 1:20 a.m. The shots were fired from the car at the side of the building facing the Attila József Theater. Garamvölgyi is yet to confirm this information. Investigation at the scene showed that offices were shot at from both the directions of Teve utca and Róbert Károly körút. Police are also gathering evidence from surveillance cameras.

 

The Teve utca building was surrounded by tape and is guarded by police officers wearing bulletproof vests and armed with automatic weapons. National Investigation Office (NNI) Spokesperson Emese Horváczy said that an investigation has been launched for misuse of firearms and ammunition.

 

Levels of protection of the Parliament building, the Representatives' Offices (Képviselői Irodaház) and ministries have been increased, Garamvölgyi said. Police officers wearing bulletproof vests and armed with automatic weapons are guarding the Parliament building, the Representatives' Offices and several ministries. Policemen are behind the cordons surrounding the Parliament, while members of the National Government Guard (Köztársasági Őrezred) are standing close to the building.

 

Officers armed with automatic weapons are also guarding the ministry of local governments and regional development (Önkormányzati és Területfejlesztési Minisztérium) and the state president's palace at the Buda Castle.

 

Liberal leader Gábor Kuncze said on television this morning that he believes the attack on the police headqarters is an isolated incident and not part of an organized attack. He pointed out that the building is a symbol of police, which is currently being attacked "from inside and outside of the Parliament." He thinks the perpetrators were trying to deliver a message that says, "not even you are safe, because we are not afraid to do this."

 

Chancellery Minister György Szilvásy also said on television that he hopes the attack was an isolated event. He added that he had not been referring specifically to this attack when he mentioned secret services reports in the past few days.

 

On February 7, Szilvásy said that the reason the cordon around the Parliament building needed to stay in place until the March 15 national holiday is that radical groups are preparing to divide the forces of the police and are organizing violent actions with the aim of occupying Kossuth Lajos tér.

 

During the past few months, authorities have received several threatening messages by phone and e-mail, and bomb threats were called in to the Parliament.

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