HUNGARY:Riot police clashed with right-wing demonstrators in central Budapest last night after some 200,000 people protested against a Socialist government that they accuse of lying to the nation and crippling the poor with cutbacks and redundancies.
Most of the crowd dispersed peacefully after the rally, which was organised by the main Fidesz opposition party, but several hundred people - mostly young men, many with their faces covered by scarves and balaclavas - confronted the massed ranks of police, lit small bonfires and blocked streets.
After protesters tried to reach a police station where one of their leaders was believed to be held, riot police responded with tear gas and water cannon, while other units monitored other potential flashpoints and a helicopter patrolled overhead.
Tens of thousands of police were on duty across Hungary for yesterday's national holiday, when the government feared a repeat of last autumn's series of riots in Budapest, which injured more than 800 people.
Those clashes were sparked by the leak of a recording on which prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany admitted lying about the dire state of the economy to win re-election last April.
That admission enraged many Hungarians, who were already angry about the government's "austerity package" of reforms aimed at cutting the country's huge budget deficit. That plan - which includes introducing fees for university tuition and medical treatment, slashing social spending and sacking many state employees - is now biting hard.
The security services, which were widely accused of using excessive force to disperse last autumn's rioters, again accused known far-right extremists and football hooligans of planning and leading last night's confrontation with the police.
It came after a day of tension, which began when right-wingers hurled abuse, eggs and fruit at liberal Budapest mayor Gabor Demszky as he addressed an event commemorating Hungary's 1848 uprising against Habsburg rule.
"The mercenaries of fear are among us again. It is because of them that many people awaited the anniversary of our most peaceful revolution with fear," Mr Demszky shouted over the heckling, as bodyguards used open umbrellas to deflect flying objects.
"Nine out of 10 Hungarians are with us," he said. "Those who don't believe in the nightmare of two opposed Hungarys eternally at war."
Protesters also chanted "communist pig" at Mr Gyurcsany, a former communist youth leader who became a multi-millionaire during the 1990s, and who has vowed to push through tough cost-cutting measures to balance Hungary's budget.
Addressing a crowd awash with Hungarian flags and another banner associated with Hungary's wartime fascist regime, Fidesz leader Viktor Orban again urged Mr Gyurscany to resign and demanded a referendum on his reforms. Such a referendum would be binding, he said.
The government either does what the people want or it can be chased out, he added.