Rubber bullets fired after Budapest commemorations
The protests took place 2km from Hungary's parliament building
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Monday, 23, Oct 2006 08:01
Hungarian police have fired rubber bullets and launched tear gas at demonstrators in Budapest after events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of an anti-Soviet revolt turned into a protest against the government.
More than 1,000 protestors are thought to have clashed with police in the central European state's capital, following an admission by prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany that he lied about the economy to gain re-election.
Earlier in the day ministers and officials laid wreaths at a memorial to those who died in the 1956 uprising, which lasted until November 10th, while flowers were also placed at the statue of then prime minister Imre Nagy, who was executed along with hundreds of others when the rebellion was crushed.
Many 1956 veterans refused to shake Mr Gyurcsany's hand at the ceremony, but he denied that Hungary was facing a political crisis.
"Despite the often justified disappointment and discontent, the majority of Hungarians believe that parliamentary democracy is the most suited to express people's will and to create law and give a programme to a free Hungary," the prime minister said.
A number of separate groups of protestors are making their grievances with the government known in Budapest, with the demonstrators fired upon by police 2km away from parliament at Elizabeth Square.
The October 23rd uprising in 1956 occurred when a spontaneous protest of 23,000 people escalated into a full-blown revolt, with statues of Soviet leader Josef Stalin being pulled down.
But thousands of people died when the army's tanks returned three weeks later to crush the uprising.