Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany vowed yesterday to crack down on anti-government protests after a second night of riots, pledging to stay the course and push through tough economic reforms.
"We will have no patience with them," Gyurcsany told a Cabinet meeting, after hundreds of demonstrators clashed with police in Budapest for the second night running, calling on him to resign.
"The government will hold firm on the only track possible: the policies of reform to ensure development and economic stability," the socialist leader told the meeting, which was open to the press.
The opposition Fidesz Party has also added its voice to the calls for Gyurcsany to resign after he admitted -- on a leaked recording -- repeatedly lying to the country over the state of the economy in order to win re-election.
Police used tear gas and water cannons early yesterday to disperse the protesters, who hurled bottles and other objects at the security forces and set fire to a police car and garbage cans.
The clashes left dozens of people injured and 100 under arrest, and came after more than 10,000 people demonstrated peacefully outside parliament late on Tuesday.
The demonstrators called on Gyurcsany to quit after public radio broadcast the recording of a closed-door talk between Gyurcsany and his deputies in May, after he had won the April general elections.
On the tape, Gyurcsany admitted that he had "lied morning, night and evening" for the past 18 months to win re-election knowing he could not deliver on his promises.
In a passionate speech peppered with the expletives and blunt talk for which he is well known, the charismatic 44-year-old admitted "we screwed up."
"Not a little, big time. No country in Europe has committed blunders like we have. There is an explanation for this. We obviously lied our way through the past one-and-a-half to two years," he said.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
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