150 Injured In Hungarian Protests

PM Refuses To Step Down After Violent Reaction To His Leaked Remarks

(AP) 
The violence came after a mainly peaceful protest outside parliament attended by several thousand people began late Sunday, when a recording made in May was leaked to local media in which Gyurcsany admitted to repeatedly having lied to the country about the true state of the Hungarian economy to win April's elections.

Gyurcsany's comments — made to the Socialists' group of parliamentary deputies — were full of crude remarks and called into doubt the abilities of some of Hungary's most respected economic experts.

"We screwed up. Not a little, a lot," Gyurcsany was heard saying. "No European country has done something as boneheaded as we have. ... I almost died when for a year and a half we had to pretend we were governing. Instead, we lied morning, evening and night."

He said the economy had been kept afloat through "divine providence, the abundance of cash in the world economy and hundreds of tricks."

By Monday night, the crowd demanding Gyurcsany's resignation outside parliament grew as it was joined by people getting off work and coming to the capital from surrounding areas.

Late Monday, several hundred protesters broke away from the larger group outside parliament and marched over to the nearby headquarters of state television, wanting to be allowed to proclaim their demands on a live broadcast.

While most of the crowd watched from a safe distance, a few dozen protesters tried to break through police lines and into the TV headquarters, but police drove them back with water cannons and tear gas.

Police also tried to disperse the larger protest with water cannon fire but the truck was quickly disabled by the rioters, some of whom escorted the police officers operating the vehicle to safety. Several cars near the TV building were set on fire, their flames scorching the building and damaging furniture inside.

The origin of the leak remains murky, and some have speculated that it may even have come from Gyurcsany's own office, although the prime minister denies that.

Confronted with initial excerpts of the 25-minute recording which Hungarian state radio put up on its Web site Sunday afternoon, Gyurcsany not only acknowledged their authenticity but seemed relieved they had been made public — fueling the rumors that he was involved in the leak.

Analysts say the prime minister may have hoped that the scandal would work in his favor — exposing the full extent of the nation's economic problems and casting him in the role of the country's savior.

But for now, Gyurcsany is the object of the nation's scorn.

Several thousand police reinforcements were called to the capital from across the country. Police eventually succeeded in retaking the TV building and driving out protesters, more than five hours after the incidents started.

The policeman with head injuries was described on state television as being in satisfactory condition after undergoing an operation to remove a bone splinter from his skull.

On Monday, members of Gyurcsany's Socialist party in parliament voted unanimously in support of the prime minister. The government called for an emergency session of the National Security Cabinet for Tuesday morning.

In Brussels, Hungary's European Union Commissioner Laszlo Kovacs said the unrest in Budapest put the "stability and future of the country" at risk.