The protest of some 2,000 people in Hungary’s capital was in response to another demonstration held nearby by at least 1,000 supporters of extremist, nationalist groups, eyewitnesses said. Both rallies on the narrow streets of one of Budapest’s main Jewish neighborhoods were kept about 50 meters apart by metal barriers set up by police.
Shouting “Rotten Communists," and "Dirty Jews," far right activists demonstrated against the alleged improper handling of a customer who wanted to buy a ticket for a band favored by the far right. The shop was firebombed and had its windows broken in recent weeks after an employee was apparently reluctant to sell the ticket.
No major violence was reported, but police said some 60 people had been detained for their alleged involvement in disturbances. Tensions briefly rose when right-wing protesters, many of whom dressed in Nazi-style black outfits, responded with shouts of "We’re at home" when antifascists demanded "Nazis go home!" Some 600,000 Hungarian Jews were massacred in the Holocaust of World War Two when Hungary for the most part was a close ally of Nazi Germany.
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TWO GROUPS
The ticket office targeted by the two groups said in a statement to Hungarian News Agency MTI that the whole affair had grown way beyond the original argument. "At this point our shop is just an excuse for the two camps to hold their demonstrations."
However Schroeder, who was in Hungary on a business trip, said there is a need to defend freedom from the "violence of extremists." Following Friday evening’s rally, many of the extremists reportedly gathered outside the parliament building and, later, the nearby state television headquarters on Freedom Square, where the American Embassy and a World War II Soviet memorial also are located.
Hungarian media reported that a few of the protesters climbed over a barrier around the Soviet memorial and trampled on flower wreaths that had recently been placed there.
The right-wing groups on Friday had asked for permission to hold a protest outside parliament or near Elizabeth Bridge, the largest span in downtown Budapest over the Danube River, but police denied both requests saying they did not have enough time to provide adequate security at the planned events.
PRIME MINISTER
Far right demonstrators also demanded the ouster of Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany. The Hungarian leader has been fighting a political battle since late 2006, when a series of protests and riots broke out after he admitted on a leaked recording that the government lied about the state of the economy to win re-election.
Gyurcsany’s Socialist Party likely will likely form a minority government next month because its junior liberal coalition partner, the Alliance of Free Democrats, plans to withdraw from the coalition by the end of April.
They have accused Gyurcsany of backing away from implementing economic reforms to reduce what amounts to the highest budget deficit within the European Union, making it difficult to switch from the forint, Hungary’s currency, to the Euro.
A tense calm returned to the streets of Budapest late Friday, April 11, but more protests were expected in the coming weeks.
