Hungarian protesters seize tank

[Jaga]

what is going on in Hungary again?

DEMONSTRATORS drove a Second World War tank at police firing rubber bullets and tear gas yesterday during an anti- government protest in Budapest on the 50th anniversary of Hungary's uprising against Soviet rule.

As police pushed the crowd of about 1,000 away from the square outside the parliament building, protesters seized the T-34 tank used as an exhibit to commemorate the Hungarian uprising and drove it towards police lines. "The whole crowd started cheering. The police started firing tear gas, then the tank stopped," said Fedja Grulovic, a cameraman.

Protesters could be seen carrying placards with 7ft-letters spelling out the word "freedom" in Hungarian.

The anniversary of the anti-Soviet uprising has been marred by a month of protests, following the admission by the Socialist prime minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany, in a leaked speech, that he lied about the state of the economy to win national elections in April.

news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1571102006

[sciwriter]

Jaga: IMO Hungarians are asserting their independence, and they like to fight: e.g., the late Queen Geraldine, wife of the late King Zog of Albania, was Hungarian. Carl

[Jaga]

Even in our local newspaper they were talking about Hungarian protesters today. Still, it seems that things are not very quiet there!

[suzanne]

It's hard to predict how long things are going to be tense in Budapest. There is quite an impasse there: the prime minister, Gyurcsány, refuses to step down amidst the scandal of lies, and the protesters claim they will not leave until he's out of office...

A Hungarian colleague of mine things the situation will resolve soon. He says that the protesters will go home soon, since it will soon be too darn cold for them to be out there, all day and all night!

[Bob S]

;D A tank? Very good for traffic jams, very poor on use of fuel. ;D ;D

[Jaga]

I agree with Suzanne that the prime minister should leave if he really cares for the stability of his country.

Bob, did you ever drive a tank?

[suzanne]

The BBC has had some of the most detailed English-language coverage of this whole Hungarian protest situation. I found this article explained the situation well and gave some background info:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6081974.stm

[sciwriter]

Many Hungarians want to continue independence from RussIa with end to Coommunism and also independence from Western Capitalism including strip clubs & portno. They want a mix of a market economy & social benefits with democracy. I have two Hungarian second-cousins who live in USA. They like to fight as they're probably descended from Attila the hun. Carl

[Bob S]

admin said:

I agree with Suzanne that the prime minister should leave if he really cares for the stability of his country.

Bob, did you ever drive a tank?

;D No Jaga i have never been in a Tank before. I use to ride Greyhounds and Bird Farms. ;D

[hollister]

At the reception in honor of the Hungarian Revolution the SNR remarked that while there were protesters in the street - he reminded us that the government is only 17 years old and he saw it as a people learning to talk to each other about their differences. It reminded me that it took the United States 20 years after our own revolution to come up with a Constitution.