Budapest: Against Pál Schmitt’s plagiarism
You can read more about the Hungarian President’s case of plagiarism on The Contrarian Hungarian’s blog. Today at 11:00 Students’ Network organized a meeting across the Rector’s Office of Semmelweis University on Köztelek Tér (Budapest), demanding the Graduate Council to revoke President Schmitt’s doctorate.
Unfortunately, the meeting was attended by around 40 students and 15 journalists. Although it was previously announced that it would take place between 11:00 and 14:00 (THREE hours), the meeting barely exceeded 30 minutes. Here are some pictures (the protesters gathered especially for journalists, and probably at their demand):
And this is the ‘big’ student crowd:
Some of them took their notebooks, trying to work a bit before the meeting was supposed to begin:
The below poster seems to say ‘The spine is not the core material’ – easy to understand its meaning, probably it’s in every language :)
Finally, two organizers started to say something. Not too much, though: two or three propositions, something like ‘Thank you for coming. See you next time’. They were surrounded by journalists:
Well, the meeting was in a small park, lots of dogs were trying to solve their morning problems, and one came very close to Magyar Television’s team, probably wanting to show his great respect:
HIR TV also came, but unfortunately for them it was too late: the meeting was finished, few people remained in the park:
Below the translation is: ‘Are you really so afraid?’
When the Magyar Television started to transmit (or maybe just to record) the news, almost everyone had already left the place…
So that was all. For a nation that is used to get to the street every time it has something to say, students’ protest was pretty disappointing…
[I want to thank The Contrarian Hungarian for announcing me about this rally and its location, and for helping with posters' translations]
Budapest: the three rallies
UPDATE 1: Different news agencies report that there were between 100,000 and 250,000 people at the Government’s rally, while at the opposition’s (Milla) rally only 30,000 to maximum 100,000 were present (AFP).
Ok, yesterday was interesting (three rallies to cover: government’s rally in Kossuth tér, far-right’s rally in Deák Ferenc tér, and opposition’s rally on the Pest foot of the Erzsébet Bridge), irritating (almost running for six hours) and exhausting (six hours of running & shooting, 700 photos). However, the biggest problem was the weather (actually, the extremely sunny day) which was excellent for demonstrations, but not for taking photos. So my photos below are not as good as I was expecting, but here they are.
So let us start. The first interesting thing to me was the descent of the Polish guests from the Buda Castle; they were supposed to be greeted by Hungarians at the Pest foot of the Chain Bridge between 14:30 and 15:00. I arrived there at 14:15, but the diligent Poles were already on the Pest side, walking on Jóysef Attila utca and heading to the Kossuth tér.
[CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO ENLARGE THEM!]
They were of course accompanied by those Hungarians dressed in traditional costumes which you can see in any Hungarian demonstration supporting the government (I have never seen them in an opposition’s rally, however):
And then again the Poles:
Some Polish women were actually crying seeing the Hungarians welcoming and applauding them:
Some kids got sick, and a nice policeman just got one out of the mass of people:
Close to the Chain bridge, a clown with lots of balloons… the interesting thing is that he also had a ‘kokárda’ (the symbol of the 1848-1849 revolution):
Going to the Kossuth tér, everyone could see the youth of Government’s supporters. I will come back later with other photos showing both the youth and the mental sanity of many of them (just a little patience!).
And we are now in front of the Parliament in Kossuth tér, close to the Poles: young and polyglots, they have banners in Polish, French and English:
Don’t you love Hungary? Nationalist feelings are here so strong, that even dogs seem to have them:
And then something that I thought I would never see in Hungary: a group of Roma demonstrators being happily and noisily welcomed by all Hungarians. I didn’t know why until I get back home and I made some internet search: it seems that Lungo Drom is very close to Fidesz (more here):
And then we saw the Government’s building, ready for the show:
And the crowd, of course. My pictures cannot show you the whole mass of people, but as far as I am concerned I think they were still more than those gathered for the opposition’s rally:
And then I was very interested to see the prime minister Viktor Orbán, since he was supposed to come up at 15:00 to deliver a speech. However, to my disappointment the show started with some Hungarian dances (Csárdás) and songs, then some politician came and talked for more than 15 minutes, and then I decided we have to go to catch the other manifestations too. So we went to Deák Ferenc tér, to see the far-right Jobbik‘s supporters. Lots of flags, to be sure 
And then I started to look for figures. Two of them were quite nice…
but look at the other ones…
Then we decided to go toward opposition’s rally, on the Pest foot of Erzsébet Bridge (a.k.a. Szabadsajtó út / Free Press Road). On our way, just close to the Deák Ferenc tér metro there was a guy who seemed not to be aware of the turmoil around him:
And then the opposition’s rally:
The EU and Hungarian flags together… the only rally on that day where one could see such a ‘horror’ ))
And the scene. It was supposed to be an English translation on the radio, but nobody said on which post:
And here’s the crowd. Some said it was larger that that of Government’s rally, but I still do not believe this. The difference (and the reason why it seemed to be more people there) is that the street was rather narrow than very large:
As you can surely see, the sun was a big problem for opposition’s manifestation. Being in the crowd, it was extremely difficult to look at the scene. Probably that’s why some had tears (or who knows….):
Here are some other pictures:
Interesting enough, only the opposition decried the recently deceased, state-owned Malev company:
The opposition rally closed before it was previously announced (they stayed there for only one hour and a half, instead of the previous announcement of two hours). So we decided to go back yo Jobbik on Deák Ferenc tér:
Actually this rally was the most interesting one. The old and bearded bikers and some (so many, to our surprise) wonderful Harleys made our day
And then we went back again to Kossuth tér, to see what sort of concert they had there after the rally. Nothing special regarding the music or the band, but the scattered crowd dancing was more than interesting. Now I’m fulfilling my promise of coming back to the age and mental sanity of many supporters of the Government (and even though you cannot see rightly from the pictures, all of them were actually dancing )
Since everything seemed to be finished in the Kossuth tér, we wanted to go back to Deák Ferenc tér to Jobbik’s demonstration. But we stopped on the Szabadság ter, since we saw Jobbik’s hardliners:
After police surrounded them, some escaped and get into the Bank Center crying something about Jews. Police came rapidly, secured the place, but Jobbik’s guys didn’t seemed to care too much:
Then Jobbik’s hardliners regrouped in front of the Hungarian Television, installed some flags and a very nervous guy had a long speech:
And that was all, I guess. Going back home we passed by Jobbik’s demonstration on Deák Ferenc tér, and around 19:00 there was a concert: probably the last event of that evening.
Hungary at the Crossroads
Even at the Mangalica Festival, Hungarians still worry about their future (Szabadság Ter, Budapest, Hungary, 5 February 2012)
Budapest: rally’s portraits
I have decided to make a separate post for the portraits I shot at the pro-government rally on the 21st of January. Some faces tell a whole story. Below, a child doesn’t know anything about the European Union and the Orban government, but it is clearly impressed to see all those people in the street:
This guy was actually crying while singing a Hungarian song:
Budapest, Hungary, 21st of January 2012 (Hősök tere - Andrássy ut - Bajcsy-Zsilinszky - Báthory utca – Kossuth tér).
Budapest: Pro-government rally
After the anti-government rally on the 2nd of January, pro-Orban journalists from Magyar Nemzet organized a rally on the 21st of January. Organizers’ intention was not only to show the huge number of Orban’s supporters, but also to send a strong message to European and international institutions which lately increased their pressure on Hungary to reverse anti-democratic laws. Hundreds of buses brought around 400,000 people from all over the country (the information is taken from The Contrarian Hungarian, who is also offering an excellent text report on demonstrators’ claims and feelings; read also Andor Jakab’s report). People gathered at 4 PM at Hősök tere (Heroes Square); maybe not quite surprisingly, most of them were of an old age, exhibiting great deference towards medieval nationalist dresses and symbols. Here’s my photo report (click on photos to enlarge):
I’m not sure about how exactly protecting the Orban government is also protecting Europe, but people seem to think so:
Since the organizers are pro-governmental journalists, it is not hard to understand who are considered ‘responsible journalists’ and who are not so labelled:
The huge crowd (maybe the largest in the last decades) is marching on Andrássy Avenue, heading to Bajcsy-Zsilinszky. People are generally quiet, however some groups are singing and praying in a low voice.
The crowd is quietly marching on Bajcsy-Zsilinszky:
On Bajcsy-Zsilinszky, two anti-government activists are defying the crowd. However, the old people are already tired of walking, so beside some swearing and whistles nothings is heard:
Old women really care about their sovereignty:
The crowd is already on Báthory utca, heading to the Kossuth tér.
The below poster’s intention is to show that Hungarians have always supported individual freedoms, while Western powers are the real anti-democratic countries:
People want to show where they are coming from:
On Kossuth tér, in front of the Parliament’s building, the crowd is listening to two or three short speeches. They acclaim and cry ‘Viktor we are with you’:
Not everyone can get into the Kossuth square, so many stopped on Báthory utca.
Some claim there is no difference between the European Union and the Soviet Union:
They think that while in 1956 Hungary was attacked by tanks, now it is attacked by banks:
Now below is quite a strange claim, since Viktor Orban nationalized the pension system:
Candles for the heroes dead in the 1956 revolution against the Soviet occupation:
Wherever Europe and the world is going to, it seems Hungary is heading to the opposite direction:
The buses, previously parked in the huge parking lot close to Városliget (City Park), near Hősök tere (Heroes Square), are now on Bajcsy-Zsilinszky prepared to take the already tired old protesters back home. The rally was over around 6:30 PM.
Budapest, Hungary, 21st of January 2012 (Hősök tere - Andrássy ut - Bajcsy-Zsilinszky - Báthory utca – Kossuth tér).
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