protests in budapest tomorrow
these police officers were today preparing for the protest action tomorrow - there are reportedly between 20 and 40 groups planning protests, to coincide (to put it mildly) with the last of the commemorative events of the 1956 uprising. they are in front of the television building.
this is them yesterday in front of the parliament building.
contrary to what some may believe, these protests are NOT left wing. what began back in september as a broad-based public response to the prime minister's admission that he was telling lies, has now become overshadowed by the efforts of what are essentially fascists or neo-nazis, who are given platforms by the conservative party Fidesz. From people i have been talking to, one of the main visual features of the protests has been the presence of red and white striped flags - these flags gained popularity in the 1920s and 1930s as a symbol of the Hungarian brand of Nazism, and this is definitely what most people associate them with today.
tomorrow is the commemoration of the crushing of the 1956 uprising - the day the soviet tanks rolled into budapest. there are several official ceremonies planned, but in addition, the leader of the conservative Fidesz party (strongly supported by several extreme right wing nationalist groups) has called a mass demonstration by candlelight in the afternoon (it's getting dark at around 4.30 now). but many of the protests are scheduled to begin earlier in the day. there are various gathering points, and i heard one woman in a bar tonight predict as many as hundreds of thousands of people protesting (across a varied political spectrum) tomorrow. we will see. it will also be interesting to see what the response of the police is, as there is a rapidly developing consensus that many of their responses to the earlier protests were beyond brutal, which is becoming a further topic of public outcry. the politics of what is going on are difficult to grasp from the outside, especially because i don't speak hungarian! but i'm slowly starting to make sense of the situation.
i've got to go right now but i'll write an update tomorrow - and hopefully i'll have some photos of the demonstrations... provided i'm not locked in a hungarian gaol for being a bystander... but seriously, i'm actually hoping to be getting a ride around all the major spots with some friends, one of whom is a journalist for one of the budapest newspapers (ooohhh, embedded!!).
this is them yesterday in front of the parliament building.
contrary to what some may believe, these protests are NOT left wing. what began back in september as a broad-based public response to the prime minister's admission that he was telling lies, has now become overshadowed by the efforts of what are essentially fascists or neo-nazis, who are given platforms by the conservative party Fidesz. From people i have been talking to, one of the main visual features of the protests has been the presence of red and white striped flags - these flags gained popularity in the 1920s and 1930s as a symbol of the Hungarian brand of Nazism, and this is definitely what most people associate them with today.
tomorrow is the commemoration of the crushing of the 1956 uprising - the day the soviet tanks rolled into budapest. there are several official ceremonies planned, but in addition, the leader of the conservative Fidesz party (strongly supported by several extreme right wing nationalist groups) has called a mass demonstration by candlelight in the afternoon (it's getting dark at around 4.30 now). but many of the protests are scheduled to begin earlier in the day. there are various gathering points, and i heard one woman in a bar tonight predict as many as hundreds of thousands of people protesting (across a varied political spectrum) tomorrow. we will see. it will also be interesting to see what the response of the police is, as there is a rapidly developing consensus that many of their responses to the earlier protests were beyond brutal, which is becoming a further topic of public outcry. the politics of what is going on are difficult to grasp from the outside, especially because i don't speak hungarian! but i'm slowly starting to make sense of the situation.
i've got to go right now but i'll write an update tomorrow - and hopefully i'll have some photos of the demonstrations... provided i'm not locked in a hungarian gaol for being a bystander... but seriously, i'm actually hoping to be getting a ride around all the major spots with some friends, one of whom is a journalist for one of the budapest newspapers (ooohhh, embedded!!).
posted by kd | 8:55 pm
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