Hungarian PM blames hooligans for protests.
Budapest was last night braced for a third night of rioting as a defiant Hungarian prime minister promised a crack down on violent protests and insisted he will stay in office despite admitting he lied to voters.
The scene was set for a battle of wills between the premier, Ferenc Gyurcsany, and his critics who have taken to the streets in their thousands and plan a series of rallies to try to drive the premier out.
Early on Wednesday morning police fired water cannon and tear gas at demonstrators who set police cars on fire and hurled stones and rubble at the security forces. Hungary's biggest political upheaval since 1989 has left 140 police officers injured, with street battles in the early hours of Wednesday leading to 137 arrests.
Last night hundreds of banner-waving protesters gathered outside the Hungarian parliament at Kossuth Square, the venue of previous large gatherings.
In the weeks approaching the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian uprising against Communism, the fighting on the streets of the country's capital have provoked political turmoil.
The crisis began on Sunday with the leak of a recording of a private party meeting in which the socialist prime minister told his colleagues that they "lied morning, noon and night" about the state of the economy to win the election. "We did nothing for four years. Nothing," he said.
The speech was designed to rally colleagues around an austerity programme, including tax increases, aimed at getting under control a ballooning budget deficit of more than 10 per cent of gross national product.
Far from apologising for his comments, which were peppered with expletives, Mr Gyurcsany went on the offensive, blaming the violence on hooliganism and promising zero tolerance. "We'll have no patience for them," he said of the rioters.
In the short term, Mr Gyurcsany may have benefited from the violence which has appalled many Hungarians, and has the support of enough political allies to survive a no-confidence motion in parliament.
But an opposition rally called for Sunday is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of people. Local elections on 1 October will be another test of Mr Gyurcsany's ability to survive and the anniversary of the 1956 uprising on 23 October gives opponents a final opportunity to apply pressure for their prime minister's resignation.
Yesterday the centre-right opposition leader Viktor Orban called on Mr Gyurcsany to quit, describing him as a "sick, lying dilettante". He argued that the government's lack of credibility made their proposed reforms unacceptable.
But the depth of public anger suggested a loss of faith in the entire political system, with commentators arguing that the opposition lacks credibility too.
Mr Orban, who was Prime Minister from 1998-2002, seemed to accept that fact by suggesting that an "expert government" made up of economists and other non-politicians should be given a temporary mandate by parliament to halt the economic crisis.
