Political crisis sparks reactions in Romania

The violent protests in Budapest on Monday night, sparked by a record in which Hungarian PM Ferencz Gyurcsany admits he lied before the public opinion in order to win the general elections in April, reverberated among the Hungarian community on Tuesday.

Gyorgy Frunda, a top member of the Hungarian Democrats, an ethnic political group that belongs to the governing coalition in Bucharest, said in a TV appearance on Monday morning that in his view the events in Budapest were proof of the deep political divisions of the Hungarian population.

And a branch of a separate, less moderate Hungarian movement in Romania, the Hungarian Civic Union (UCM), asked the leadership of the UCM to organize a peaceful demonstration before the Hungarian Consulate in the Central Romanian city of Miercurea Ciuc, in a sign of solidarity with anti-Gyurcsany protesters in Budapest.

Thousands of rightist demonstrators gathered before key institutions in the Hungarian capital to call for Gyurcsany’s resignation on Monday, following the publication of the report in which he admits he lied the electorate.

The protests turned violent in the evening, when some 150 people were hurt and dozens of cars burnt as marchers sieged the national TV station, bringing it off-air temporarily, and clashed with the water cannon-wielding police.

In an interview for Reuters on Tuesday, Socialist PM Gyurcsany said he would not resign and promised to stick to the economic reforms he’s been pushing for months, which include a series of rather unpopular austerity measures.

HotNews.ro, Sep 19, 2006