What Lies Beneath

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At first it seemed clear-cut: when a tape recorder caught Hungary's Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány saying his party had "lied morning, evening and night" about the state of the economy to win re-election in April, protests — many of them violent — broke out across the country. Commentators around Europe attributed the eruption to the passion of outraged [an error occurred while processing this directive] citizens of a former dictatorship who expected more from their elected leaders.

But according to Gyurcsány's supporters, there's a more partisan root to the clashes as the country heads toward nationwide municipal elections on Oct. 1. In the aftermath of the demonstrations, police determined that a small coterie of right-wing football hooligans was responsible for the attacks and vandalism that caused close to €1 million in damage.

Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky says that the true nature of the violence was revealed on Monday night when rioters laying siege to the state TV building presented police with demands they wanted aired. "They said, 'We want Gyurcsány to resign,'" Demszky told Time, "and we want Fradi put back into the first division.'" Budapest's Ferencvaros (Fradi) Football Club was downgraded to the second division of the football league in July, a result its more violent supporters, famous for their nationalism and anti-Semitism, blamed on Hungary's Socialist-led government.

For his part, Mayor Demszky blames right-wing politicians, particularly members of the Alliance of Young Democrats (Fidesz), Hungary's main opposition party, for inciting the hooligans. Demszky singles out Fidesz M.P. Maria Wittner, who, he says, uttered provocative rhetoric at demonstrations; and party President Viktor Orban, Hungary's Prime Minister from 1998 to 2002, for saying a week before the current crisis broke out that he wants to avoid using the word revolt but that "resistance is an acceptable way of democratic politics."

Hungary's political scene has been tense for months. After re-election in April, Gyurcsány introduced a budget-reducing package of service cuts and tax hikes that has proved unpopular with many Hungarians. Even before his "lying" comments were made public, some of the Prime Minister's campaign stops had been disrupted by hecklers and demonstrations, which the Socialists have blamed on Fidesz. Fidesz, which canceled a Saturday rally in Budapest for fear the meeting might become a catalyst for more clashes, has denied responsibility for any violence, and says the Prime Minister's lies are the reason for the current turmoil.

But Demszky, attempting to keep his city's peace, maintains the rioters are being encouraged. "During the demonstrations that can go on for 24 hours, these speakers are saying crazy things," he says. "People are listening to them and saying 'O.K.'" If true, the lesson may then be this: reckless words can be every bit as dangerous as the lies that provoke them.