That weird word means conspiracy. There is nothing that Hungarians love more than finding the hidden motives, the dark forces, the foreign infiltrators and the evil bastards trying to milk the noble causes. Since the riots started people from every political persuasion, anti- and pro-government…

Most of the people who are participating in the ongoing demonstrations are convinced that 50 years after the uprising against the soviets, they are starting another Hungarian revolution. This was strongly condemned by many of those who participated in the 1956 events, and also by president László…

Yesterday night saw the most people on the streets of Budapest since the demonstrations started last Sunday. There were about 50 000 people on Kossuth square, even though it's quite hard to estimate: the organizers say a lot more, everybody else says a lot less.The crowd was pretty impressive…

Hír TV, (News TV) known for its sympathy for right-wing politics in general and the largest opposition party, Fidesz in particular, has literally been in the forefront of the riots since the beginning. Hír TV was the only station with live coverage of the MTV siege -  their footage was…

Both the government and the police have tried to downplay the significance of the riots, arguing that the siege of the MTV and the ensuing street fights can be attributed to a few hundred football hooligans looking for trouble. That seems to be generally true – with a few notable exceptions.…

Yesterday was the first violence-free night in Budapest since Sunday. Super!

Another night, another fight: this time, protesters picked two squares, Oktogon and Nyugati tér to clash with police. Demonstrators at Nyugati pályaudvar (Western railway station).....face police forces that arrive at Nagykörút by the truckload.The police lineup says 'don't mess with us'The…

Aside from the short but definitely funny appearance of Hungarian ambassador András Simonyi on the Colbert Nation (watch the show here) rarely has a prominent Hungarian figure appeared on any major US station. Until now. Gyurcsány was interviewed by CNN’s Nic Robertson on Thursday. General…

By Tuesday evening, thousands of peaceful protesters gathered around Parliament, as usual; meanwhile, a 500-strong radical group targeted Köztársaság tér (Republic square), where the ruling Socialist Party is headquartered.  For the thousands of riot policemen now stationed in Budapest,…

Watch how total mayhem evolves in front of the MTV headquarters. Download video in Quicktime format.

While some protesters call the MTV siege a "revolution" and compare it to the 1956 uprising, President László Sólyom on Tuesday sets the record straight:"These are criminal acts that cannot be justified."Sólyom says the state must protect its institutions and its citizens…

Download video in Quicktime format.

Siege of the Hungarian State Television - Photo gallery 1 - Pictures by Tamás Szémann (Index.hu)- Photo gallery 2 - Pictures by István Huszti (Index.hu)- Photo gallery 3 - Pictures by Dániel Németh (Index.hu)- Photo gallery 4 - Pictures by Boglárka Katona (Index.hu)- Photo gallery 5 -…

Peaceful demonstrators gather around the Hungarian Parliament Monday afternoon to protest Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány's leaked speech and demand his resignation. Later into the evening, a few hundred protesters, many of whom later identified as football hooligans, decide to move in…

Violence erupted in a matter of minutes. A clearly identifiable, about 500-strong group tried to storm the building, but were pushed back by a small police force. From the beginning it was obvious that the rioters, many of them wearing typical football hooligan clothing, were more interested in the…

On Monday, September 18th the worst violence since the 1956 uprising broke out on the streets of Budapest. What started out as another peaceful night of demonstrations with about 15 000 people in front of the Parliament building in central Budapest quickly degenerated into full-blown streetfightig,…

After the first night of demonstrations, President László Sólyom gave a short press conference, where he strongly condemned Gyurcsány's admission of lying to his fellow Hungarians. President László Sólyom: "Yesterday's news have pushed the country into a moral crisis, which is only…

Gyurcsány's speech has immediately sparked outrage. All opposition parties are demanding the prime minister's resignation. The most vocal is the largest of them, Fidesz, and its leader, ex-prime minister Viktor Orbán. Gyurcsány however told journalists that he didn't think about resignation…

On September 17 an audiotape was sent to most major Hungarian newspapers, news sites, TV and radio stations. The recording on the tape was a speech by socialist prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány, supposedly made on May 26. 2006 at a meeting of the Hungarian Socialist Party's (MSZP) MPs. The speech…

  On September 17, the biggest riots in Hungary’s post-soviet history started on the streets of Budapest. In the next couple of days, a coalition of football hooligans and extreme right-wing protesters laid seige to the building of the Hungarian state TV, clashed with police and…