You may have read/seen that today's national holiday in celebration of the anniversary of the 1956 uprising against the Soviet Union was marked by protests and a bit of violence. I AM SAFE. Knowing that things might get ugly, I stayed home all day and watched everything unfold on television. Where I am living is significantly outside the downtown area where the violence has been.
That being said, however, protestors reportedly threw rocks at police (though I saw on television the police throwing rocks at crowds), brought weapons to the protests (against an agreement the opposition party had made with police to keep weapons out) and stole a tank that was part of a display commemorating the anniversary of the revolution and used it to approach the riot police. In reponse the police used tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons and more against the protestors. Most of the public transporation is shut down because people are gathered in the streets, preventing buses and trams from passing. My host parents also said farmers are coming in from all around Hungary on tractors planning some sort of descent on the city. The American Embassy issued a warning for American citizens to stay out of the downtown area.
You can read about what is going on here on all the major news networks. Check out:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6078052.stm
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/10/23/hungary.clashes.reut/index.html
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-10-23T163102Z_01_L16093752_RTRUKOC_0_US-HUNGARY-UPRISING1.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsHome-C1-topNews-8
I am safe for the time being and will keep you posted as events unfold.
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