Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany refused to step down on Tuesday and warned of a firm response to any renewed unrest, following street violence that injured 150 people in the most serious civil disorder the country had seen since the end of Communist rule.
The turmoil was triggered by the weekend leak of a May 26 speech Gyurcsany had delivered privately to Socialist Party members. In the recording, he admitted his government had repeatedly misled the public for roughly 18 months and had accomplished virtually nothing of substance during its four years in office.
Gyurcsany told party members the country had vastly exceeded its economic capacity and that there was no longer any real choice but to pursue serious reform. He acknowledged the coming years would be difficult and that the government would likely lose public support, but argued that support could be regained once citizens saw the results of meaningful change.
He also predicted protests, saying demonstrators would eventually tire and leave. His candid admission that the government had, in his words, "lied morning, night and evening" proved deeply damaging once made public, setting off the riots that followed.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in September 2006, in its own words.