Protest against underground parking garage turns violent

As reported earlier, residents of Nagymező utca (District VI) are outraged by the district's decision about building an underground parking garage on the street. Continuous demonstrations, however, have recently turned violent, writes hvg.hu.

A resident, taking the idea from the women of Eger - who protected the town's fortress from the Turks in the 16th century - poured hot mulled wine over the construction workers, while an old lady showered them with a dozen eggs.

Because of the construction, 11 century-old trees will definitely have to be chopped down. Residents are also worried about what the construction will do to the foundation of the old apartment blocks in the vicinity, as no geological test have been conducted by the company responsible for the construction.

According to district representatives, the parking garage is necessary to alleviate the shortage of parking spaces in the district. The opposition, however, believes that there are enough unused parking garages in the vicinity.

"If we'd really like to doctor the issue of downtown parking, then the conversion of surface parking spaces into parks and green areas should be done parallel to the construction of more underground parking," said Dávid Vitézy, the spokesman of the Association of Urban and Suburban Transportation (Városi Elővárosi Közlekedési Egyesület). "If this is not how it's done, the number of cars will increase, which is undesirable."

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