Free Republic

Hungary: a 'hooligan revolution'? Why EU bureaucrats have been so snobbish and hostile towards the demonstrators in Budapest. Much of the Western media coverage of the rioting in Budapest has denounced the rioters in snobbish and hostile terms. The riots have been referred to as a ‘Goulash revolution’, to indicate that they are not as nice or respectable as those Orange and Velvet revolutions. Newspapers have uncritically quoted Hungarian politicians denouncing the ‘vulgarism’ of the apparently ‘far-right football hooligans’ who make up the rioters’ numbers. One influential left-leaning blog in Britain said the rioters are the ‘hooligan fans of the...

OTTÓ GYEPES still remembers when corpses rather than protest posters were dangling from the lampposts of Budapest. As Hungary’s “goulash revolt” entered its fifth day yesterday and bandana-wearing youths prepared for another night of arson, the country was trying to break free from its memories of the incomparably more brutal suppression of a revolution 50 years ago.Hungary is in the grip of a kind of exorcism rather than a mere power struggle. “There were terrible scenes then,” said Mr Gyepes, who was a 24-year-old lorry driver when the Hungarians took to the streets against communism in 1956. “There were burnt-out...

BUDAPEST, Hungary - Mounted police charged bottle-hurling protesters outside Socialist party headquarters early Wednesday, another night of violence touched off by the prime minister's leaked admission that his government had repeatedly lied to the public about the economy. Up to 50 people were reported injured, including one policeman. The state MTI news agency said the officer was seriously hurt in the clashes, which - like on the previous day - involved splinter groups separate from a larger demonstration massing about 10,000 people. MTI said total police at the scene numbered around 1,000. It reported several police cars burning and said...