HUNGARY:Hungarian police are warning of potential violence today from far-right groups that could infiltrate anti-government rallies and stage a repeat of last autumn's Budapest riots writes Daniel McLaughlinin Budapest.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to take to the streets across Hungary on a national holiday commemorating the 1848 uprising against the Habsburg monarchy, and the right-wing opposition hopes to attract tens of thousands to a rally in Budapest. The Socialist government and the security services fear the event could spark the kind of running battles between protesters and police that broke out last September and marred the anniversary a month later of Hungary's 1956 uprising against communist rule.
"There are groups and individuals who are planning to disturb the peace," said national police chief Laszlo Bene. "We have to do everything possible to not let that escalate."
About 30,000 police officers will be on duty or standby nationwide, and Budapest will be monitored by police helicopters and closed to traffic in many areas. Meanwhile, riot police units armed with rubber bullets and water cannons will be ready for signs of trouble in the capital.
Last autumn's violence began amid protests against Socialist prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, who was caught on tape admitting that he lied to the public about the dire state of the economy to win re-election a few months earlier.
The leaked recording enraged many Hungarians, who were already angry about cutbacks and redundancies pushed through by Mr Gyurcsany to reduce Hungary's huge budget deficit - austerity measures that are now biting even harder.
The right-wing Fidesz opposition party - which also promised lavish spending in its failed election campaign last spring - demands Mr Gyurcsany's resignation and wants a referendum on a sweeping reform package the European Union has welcomed.
Fidesz insists it has no connection with far-right groups and does not encourage violence, but the government accuses it of doing little to rein in extremists. It also accuses it of tolerating the use by its supporters of the so-called Arpad Stripes, a red-and-white medieval banner that gained notoriety after being adopted by Hungary's wartime fascist regime.
Many Budapest residents have left the city for a long weekend ahead of today's holiday, amid rising tension stoked by the discovery of several caches of arms, and an incident in which police headquarters in the city were strafed by machine-gun fire.