Protesters hurl abuse, beer cans at Hungarian MPs

Protesters threw soil and beer cans at governing MPs as they left the Parliament building after passing an amendment to the law on state property Monday evening, reports fn.hu.

Several hundred protesters, mostly consisting of "Kossuth tér protesters," the scruffy demonstrators who camped outside parliament for weeks in fall 2006, gathered near the main, northern entrance to the building. They had previously attempted to join a protest organized by the Live Chain for Hungary (Élőlánc Magyarországért) movement at the Kossuth statue, but were asked to leave by András Lányi, a leader of the organization.

Protesters shouted "traitor, filthy Jew" at Zoltán Szabó (MSZP) before he boarded his car. They also reportedly asked Máriusz Révész (Fidesz) what they should do, receiving the reply, "not this," as he headed toward the subway station. Protesters assaulted at least eight PMs, including Attila Mesterházy (MSZP) whose car was spat on and damaged with sticks.

Most of the crowd had dispersed by 11 p.m., but ten to fifteen protesters waited at the nearby television headquarters until Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány stepped out of the building. Protesters shouted "traitor" and "you sold our homeland" at him.

The newly passed law states that the president of the National Property Management Committee (Nemzeti Vagyongazdálkodási Tanács), a body to be formed in January 2008, will be appointed by the state president, rather than the prime minister as originally planned. After the first version of the law was passed in June, it was sent back to Parliament for reconsideration by State President László Sólyom after he said it was unacceptable that members of the committee would be appointed for six years, longer than a government period, and they could be removed only if proven incompetent, or in serious breach of their obligations. The body is empowered to take decisions on the privatization of state-owned companies, such as the national lottery and Hungarian postal service.

• Email
• Save to My Caboodle