Hungary's Fidesz opposition today called off its planned anti-government rally at the weekend, which the government had warned would cause week-long violent protests to escalate.
The move boosted embattled Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's hopes of riding out a storm that has paralysed the Hungarian capital this week, undermined the country's credit rating and weakened the forint currency.
But protesters, gathering again at the parliament square for a fourth night to demand Gyurcsany step down, said they would continue rallying, with our without Fidesz. A far-right party will march on Saturday to the site of the cancelled Fidesz rally.
"People in the countryside are totally disappointed that the demonstration was put off ... they organised everything assuming they would come to the rally. I have a suspicion they will turn up anyway," said Terez Rostas (48) one of a few hundred people camped outside parliament.
Thousands of protesters, including rioting youths, have taken to the streets of the capital in the evenings in anger at Gyurcsany's leaked admission that he lied about the perilous state of the economy to win re-election in April.
The riots, closely watched in neighbouring central European nations who are also experiencing political turmoil, have brought a lesson to leaders in the region that morality in politics can be as important as economic issues.
Hundreds of people and police were injured in three days of clashes as rioters burned cars and smashed shop windows in Budapest, marking the worst violence in the former communist country since its failed 1956 uprising against Soviet rule.
On Wednesday night, protests were largely peaceful, although 16 people were taken to hospital with injuries.
"In the interests of peaceful and well-meaning citizens, Fidesz has decided to postpone the event," senior Fidesz official Laszlo Kover told a news conference.
Prominent political philosopher Gaspar Miklos Tamas said Fidesz leader and former Prime Minister Viktor Orban had clearly opted not to risk stirring violence, but the move might not pay dividends among his electorate in the longer run.
"He has resigned as the leader of the united right because of cancelling this mass rally," he said.
Although the cancellation eased worries about rising violence, political confrontation remained intense. Fidesz refused to attend talks with the government on Thursday on how to deal with the protests.
"What is happening on the streets ... of Budapest today and the continuation of the violence is only in the interest of the government," Kover said.