Bored? Partake in riots!
Yesterday I had to go to Budapest to visit mom. She asked me to dig up her garden.
Since it was an important national holiday and based on the October 23rd demonstrations there were severe riots expected for this day again, I decided to go early in the morning. The most serious riots in October happened late in the afternoons and during the nights.
Budapest was all silent yesterday and the streets were completely empty. I had no trouble on my way, and soon after my arrival to the other end of Budapest I changed to working clothes and started digging.
Mom has a small garden, like 180 sqr meters, and I had to dig up around 150 sqr meters. The soil was loose thanks to the rains last week, so it went fairly quickly. I finished in about 3 hours, because I also had to remove blocks of concrete from the garden.
She made fried chicken and pancakes until I was working and by the time I finished I really wanted that chicken to somehow fly into my stomach. So I exterminated the meat and the pancakes with no mercy. Hmm.. the lunch was yummy.
In the afternoon I chopped some wood so that she can heat in case of a cold weather, and I also had to move some old wardrobes and cupboards from the house to the shed in the other end of the garden. Shame on the men living next to her, none of them offered me any help - but I did not need help anyway, it was a good strength training. It's good to see that I am not a weak jelly.
Anyhow, after finishing the hard physical stuff I had to install some games on her computer and I also checked the news portals for news about what was going on in the downtown of Budapest, as I was supposed to go home from the railway station which is in the heart of the downtown.
I saw in the News on the TV that although the commemoration ceremonies went very well and peacefully in the city during the whole day, by around 6 p.m. some hooligans started riots again, just like in October. It was something expected.
So watching the news I tried to make up plans for the route back to reach the Railway Station without trouble.
I saw on the TV that the situation got worse in every half an hour so I thought that if I ever want to get home, I should not wait any longer. I left mom's house at 7 p.m. It took about half an hour by bus until I reached the tram which took me along the "Great Boulevard" in the heart of the city, at the end of which the Railway Station is located.
The tram however was stopped at Blaha square, which is an important interchange, because the police closed down the way further along towards the railway station because of the riots.
So in order to not get into trouble I decided to go back a few stops on the same tram line and take the metro which also stopped at the railway station. I got to the railway station in a few minutes, checked the next train and as I saw that I had about 20 minutes left till my train's departure I decided to find a shop open to get some drink. I found only a non-stop kiosk so I bought a Light Coke and decided to stand outside at the entrance of the station and take some fresh air until it'll be time to catch the train. Everything was very peaceful until that point.
Although there were crowds on the street, everyone was calm and in a good mood.
After like 2 minutes I noticed that a very solid crowd was streaming from the direction of that part of the Great Boulevard where my tram was previously stopped. These were mostly young people, a lot of bald guys with worked out body, wearing scarf and hood or ski mask, but I also saw some middle aged people, mainly men shouting and waving national flags.
To my greatest surprise I saw a lot of foreigners (mainly from the slav areas) on the streets and I have no idea what the heck they were doing there - the recent demonstrations were none of their business, so I guess they just wanted to have some fun and see something extraordinary happening.
Anyway, as I was standing there watching the crowd I suddenly heard sharp bangs and sounds like when small rockets or fireworks are launched. I saw some lightning things flying in the air and they released some smoke. It was tear gas shot by the police. I pulled back a little, just enough to cover my head with the roof of the building in case a grenade landed nearby but still close enough to see what was happening.
The crowd started running away while shouting some assorted swearings - seemingly the police was pushing them into our direction. Then the tear gas "rockets" stopped for a while (I did not feel the smell) and the crowd stopped again, but the hard core of the crowd was already in front of the railway station.
Then another wave of tear gas grenades came and it did not want to stop, so as I saw wilder and wilder demonstrators arriving from that direction, I suspected that the police unit should be very close, so I quickly turned around and took my way to catch my train, which was also due anyway.
I smoothly catched my train and arrived home.
I saw that after this night Hungary was again in the headlines of some of the main News Agencies, and it does not shed a good light on the country.
Not because of the demonstrations. Majority of the people want and can demonstrate normally, peacefully against all the things that happened in the Hungarian politics in the past 17 years. I even agree with their views.
But the violence caused by some hooligans who feel bored and theye have no better game than playing "riots" on a long weekend - it cannot and must not be tolerated, in my opinion.
And when the police takes the necessary steps, people shout dictatorship and oppression, just because they are not allwed to destruct or attack others (like throwing cobbles at the policemen) as they like.
I am personally very much agree with the police standing up against this wave of violence firmly at long last. This crazy violence simply serves channelling the tension by causing a lot of financial damage and endangering the lives of others.
It is very annoying that every single night like this costs like 30-50 million Forints for the city or for the country.
And I did not even talk about the moral loss that they cause for the country.
It used to be a very peaceful country, and Budapest was the moral and cultural elite of the whole country. Now this is the most problematic city. It is a spot of shame...
I wonder when will these immature football hoolingas grow out of this behaviour. I hope this "childern's illness" of the democracy in Hungary will not last for too long.
Since it was an important national holiday and based on the October 23rd demonstrations there were severe riots expected for this day again, I decided to go early in the morning. The most serious riots in October happened late in the afternoons and during the nights.
Budapest was all silent yesterday and the streets were completely empty. I had no trouble on my way, and soon after my arrival to the other end of Budapest I changed to working clothes and started digging.
Mom has a small garden, like 180 sqr meters, and I had to dig up around 150 sqr meters. The soil was loose thanks to the rains last week, so it went fairly quickly. I finished in about 3 hours, because I also had to remove blocks of concrete from the garden.
She made fried chicken and pancakes until I was working and by the time I finished I really wanted that chicken to somehow fly into my stomach. So I exterminated the meat and the pancakes with no mercy. Hmm.. the lunch was yummy.
In the afternoon I chopped some wood so that she can heat in case of a cold weather, and I also had to move some old wardrobes and cupboards from the house to the shed in the other end of the garden. Shame on the men living next to her, none of them offered me any help - but I did not need help anyway, it was a good strength training. It's good to see that I am not a weak jelly.
Anyhow, after finishing the hard physical stuff I had to install some games on her computer and I also checked the news portals for news about what was going on in the downtown of Budapest, as I was supposed to go home from the railway station which is in the heart of the downtown.
I saw in the News on the TV that although the commemoration ceremonies went very well and peacefully in the city during the whole day, by around 6 p.m. some hooligans started riots again, just like in October. It was something expected.
So watching the news I tried to make up plans for the route back to reach the Railway Station without trouble.
I saw on the TV that the situation got worse in every half an hour so I thought that if I ever want to get home, I should not wait any longer. I left mom's house at 7 p.m. It took about half an hour by bus until I reached the tram which took me along the "Great Boulevard" in the heart of the city, at the end of which the Railway Station is located.
The tram however was stopped at Blaha square, which is an important interchange, because the police closed down the way further along towards the railway station because of the riots.
So in order to not get into trouble I decided to go back a few stops on the same tram line and take the metro which also stopped at the railway station. I got to the railway station in a few minutes, checked the next train and as I saw that I had about 20 minutes left till my train's departure I decided to find a shop open to get some drink. I found only a non-stop kiosk so I bought a Light Coke and decided to stand outside at the entrance of the station and take some fresh air until it'll be time to catch the train. Everything was very peaceful until that point.
Although there were crowds on the street, everyone was calm and in a good mood.
After like 2 minutes I noticed that a very solid crowd was streaming from the direction of that part of the Great Boulevard where my tram was previously stopped. These were mostly young people, a lot of bald guys with worked out body, wearing scarf and hood or ski mask, but I also saw some middle aged people, mainly men shouting and waving national flags.
To my greatest surprise I saw a lot of foreigners (mainly from the slav areas) on the streets and I have no idea what the heck they were doing there - the recent demonstrations were none of their business, so I guess they just wanted to have some fun and see something extraordinary happening.
Anyway, as I was standing there watching the crowd I suddenly heard sharp bangs and sounds like when small rockets or fireworks are launched. I saw some lightning things flying in the air and they released some smoke. It was tear gas shot by the police. I pulled back a little, just enough to cover my head with the roof of the building in case a grenade landed nearby but still close enough to see what was happening.
The crowd started running away while shouting some assorted swearings - seemingly the police was pushing them into our direction. Then the tear gas "rockets" stopped for a while (I did not feel the smell) and the crowd stopped again, but the hard core of the crowd was already in front of the railway station.
Then another wave of tear gas grenades came and it did not want to stop, so as I saw wilder and wilder demonstrators arriving from that direction, I suspected that the police unit should be very close, so I quickly turned around and took my way to catch my train, which was also due anyway.
I smoothly catched my train and arrived home.
I saw that after this night Hungary was again in the headlines of some of the main News Agencies, and it does not shed a good light on the country.
Not because of the demonstrations. Majority of the people want and can demonstrate normally, peacefully against all the things that happened in the Hungarian politics in the past 17 years. I even agree with their views.
But the violence caused by some hooligans who feel bored and theye have no better game than playing "riots" on a long weekend - it cannot and must not be tolerated, in my opinion.
And when the police takes the necessary steps, people shout dictatorship and oppression, just because they are not allwed to destruct or attack others (like throwing cobbles at the policemen) as they like.
I am personally very much agree with the police standing up against this wave of violence firmly at long last. This crazy violence simply serves channelling the tension by causing a lot of financial damage and endangering the lives of others.
It is very annoying that every single night like this costs like 30-50 million Forints for the city or for the country.
And I did not even talk about the moral loss that they cause for the country.
It used to be a very peaceful country, and Budapest was the moral and cultural elite of the whole country. Now this is the most problematic city. It is a spot of shame...
I wonder when will these immature football hoolingas grow out of this behaviour. I hope this "childern's illness" of the democracy in Hungary will not last for too long.
2 comments:
I'm very glad to hear that you made it home ok!!! Sounds like you were pretty close to the action.
I wonder like, if its really a smart thing to go and live there for a year or two... :)
S
I wonder like, if its really a smart thing to go and live there for a year or two... :)
Yeah sure, there is nothing to worry about ;)
It's just a small storm in the potty and it's only on major national holidays (we have three such days).
Otherwise both the country and the city is a very calm relaxed place.
We have a lot of tourists both from the West and from East, who return and settle down for some years because they like the country and Budapest so much.
So relax, apart from this little interlude everything is peaceful here ;-)
E.
Post a Comment