Gunmen fire at Hungary police headquarters

BUDAPEST, Feb 13 (Reuters) Gunmen fired shots at Hungary's police headquarters today in an attack Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany linked to recent protests against his Socialist government.

The shots, which police said were probably fired from an automatic weapon from a nearby parking lot after midnight, broke windows but no one was hurt.

''It cannot be ignored that the increasingly radicalising events are forming a chain,'' Gyurcsany told reporters after meeting police leaders.

Hungarians have staged anti-government protests since September, including violent clashes between demonstrators and police, after a leaked tape in which Gyurcsany admitted to lying to win a parliamentary election last April.

Opposition MPs resumed protests earlier this month by removing a barrier around parliament after which the government said it had received bomb threats against parliament and lawmakers, adding the barrier had to be retained.

Hungary's programme of tax and price rises aimed at cutting its bloated budget deficit has led to more protests and strike threats.

The government has also cut jobs at ministries and closed some hospitals and schools.

Gyurcsany yesterday said the measures had been successful and no further austerity steps would be needed to keep the programme on track.

But more demonstrations are widely expected around Hungary's national day on March 15.

''The police headquarters is a symbolic building,'' said Gabor Kuncze, head of the Association of Free Democrats, the junior party in the Socialist-liberal ruling coalition.

''It is directed against the police, who have also come under political attack,'' he said on public television.

REUTERS DKA RN1908