World attention has been focused on Budapest since demonstrations, including occasional rioting, broke out on Monday in response to the revelation that Hungary’s Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurcsány, had repeatedly lied to the public about the state of the economy in order to win reelection. Major media outlets have, of course, been playing up the more violent aspects of recent events, but the NY Times is now running a video report stating that the protesters have been largely peaceful, with the exception of a few bands of right wing nutjobs and soccer hooligans.



Also today, Gridskipper has an interview with Erik D’Amato, the editor of Budapest-expat blog Pestiside, who pooh-poohs the idea that the country is in the grip of chaos: “No. It’s no big deal. 5 cars burned compared to like 1,700 in one night in Paris. Even if you adjust for population, it’s like 50 to 1. The headlines should read: COME SEE A REVOLUTION WITHOUT THE UNPLEASANT DEADLY SIDE-EFFECTS.”

Pestiside’s coverage of events is definitely worth a look for their local (and thoroughly jaded) view on things, for example yesterday’s point-for-point comparison of this week’s demonstrations with the 1956 uprising against the Soviets, or their mid-week roundup of events which was tagged with the headline: “Your Uprising is, Like, So Two Nights Ago.”