Thousands of people gathered on Kossuth tér outside Parliament Saturday morning to protest against cuts in state funding for local governments.
Debrecen mayor and Fidesz MP Lajos Kósa, the main speaker, declared “Hungary has become an Absurdistan, local governments have run out of all resources, and there is no more time”.
Complaining about cuts included in the “dangerous” 2010 budget bill, Kósa accused central governments of “continuously lying to local governments since 2002.” As for current Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai, “he is interested in one goal only: meeting the deficit target,” Kósa said.
Kósa read out a 12-point statement on behalf of the protesters, declaring that “all local governments have a right to life, schools, churches and culture, or at least to a policeman, as well as their own assets and revenues, and last but not least, to resistance within legal frameworks if the state threatens its existence”.
Issues addressed at the demonstration will be resolved in any case, said Socialist spokesman István Nyakó.
On Sunday, Fifth District mayor Antal Rogán said: “The spirit of the Gulag did not disappear with the camps, as they have their successors who are taking away food from our children, and schools and post offices from village residents, as well as subsidies from the disabled”. The Fidesz politician was speaking at the 56th anniversary of the return of Hungarians from work camps.
