Hungary opposition calls off weekend rally

Budapest, Sept 21: Hungary's opposition Fidesz party today called off its planned anti-government rally at the weekend, which the government had warned would cause week-long violent protests to escalate.

''In the interest of the peaceful and well-meaning citizens Fidesz has decided to delay the event,'' a senior Fidesz official Laszlo Kover told a news conference.

An extra parliamentary far-right grouping called the Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik) earlier called on its supporters to march from parliament to the site of the Fidesz event.

Thousands of protesters, including rioting youths, have taken to the streets in Budapest in anger at Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's leaked admission that he lied about the perilous state of the economy to win April's election.

Hundreds of people and police were injured in three days of clashes as rioters burned cars and smashed shop windows in Budapest, marking the worst violence in the ex-communist country since its failed 1956 uprising against Soviet rule.

Gyurcsany has rejected calls from Fidesz that he should step down and has vowed to continue with unpopular measures needed after years of Socialist budget largesse to put the new European Union member back on track to adopt the euro.

The forint rebounded on news the demonstration had been cancelled, trading at 274.30 to the euro at 1723IST.

Diplomats and analysts said the Fidesz rally on Saturday would have attracted hundreds of thousands of people and could have escalated and prolonged the violence.

Gyurcsany was taped in May telling his Socialist party they ''did nothing for four years'' and lied ''day and night'' to win the April election.

Yesterday protests were largely peaceful, although officials said 16 people had been taken to hospital with injuries.

REUTERS

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