Thousands demonstrate on first anniversary of riots

Thousands of people on Saturday staged demonstrations in Budapest against the government's austerity measures. The weekend's largest crowd - estimated by Magyar Hírlap at 5,000 people - converged on Szent György tér in Buda Castle District, where of the civil lawyers group which unofficially probed police excesses last autumn Krisztina Morvai said "many people are again scared in their own homeland, 17 years after the change of regime, because those in power restrict human rights." Morvai called on party voters to force the prime minister's resignation.

Journalist Zsolt Bayer said "this is not the time for a revolution but a referendum under constitutional frameworks will have to be won," adding that "a revolution cannot be arranged, it will come of itself."

According to Magyar Hírlap, hundreds gathered at a rally organised by a group calling itself the National Co-ordination Commission on Heroes Square on Saturday morning, where Fidesz MP Mária Wittner urged "unity against destruction and lies," claiming that "what was built in the István Széchenyi era is now turning to dust."

After the rally at the Sándor Palota, a group of several hundred converged on Vértanúk tere, where demonstrators arriving from Heroes Square arrived chanting anti-government slogans. The protests, which were heavily policed, ended without trouble.

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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