My Functional Analysis professor is extremely political and, I have recently heard, a somewhat controversial figure in Budapest politics. He likes to keep us updated on the hilarious political happenings of the city, which sometimes includes telling us places to "avoid" on certain days. So far I have not been let down by studiously "avoiding" these places. Long story short, a bunch of Nazis firebombed a Jewish store, then got totally owned by anti-Nazis. The Nazis were angry and swore to start a flash-mob/riot, and in response the President personally went to the store, promised police-protection there, and called on people to anti-protest the Nazis. And then the Prime Minister himself said he would appear to make a speech. For those who didn't get my facebook message, my professor summed it up pretty well: "Now Hungarian -hate- Nazis. But they are also not fond of the PM.) You can read a bit more here:
Story:
So I'm trying to decide whether or not to go, since my professor made it clear that there would be a definite possibility of violence. I figure: the worst that can happen is grievous bodily harm inflicted by a Nazi, which would in fact be pretty cool. I called it a push, and off I went.
Ok, here's the setting (not drawn to scale)
The pink dot is the store in question. The black lines are barriers. The smiley faces are friendly police officers who explain to people why they shall not pass. The frowny faces are large, angry-looking riot squad guys in full armor.
When I get there, there are a lot of people milling around 2, so I decide to see if I can get around the backside to get a better view. When I pass the park, I notice a crowd of people there. Odd, but I think nothing of it. As I'm approaching 1, I briefly walk beside a parked bus. Just as I'm about to clear it, 20 people come rushing down the street at me with cameras blazing. Confused, I clear the bus, look to my left and, bam, right there next to me, maybe three feet away is the Prime Minister of Hungary! My brain briefly ceases to function. There is a rush of people and somehow I end up 3rd in line to shake the Prime Ministers hand. Still not sure about my opinion of the man, I confusedly stumble out of line (I know I know. I still maintain that this was the right thing to do. People hate this guy.) If you look at the article above, I was right next to the camera man. So after he shakes some hands and kisses (taste-testing?) some babies, he goes and makes a speech which receives mostly cheers. This confuses me. Where are the Nazis?
I look across the sectioned off square and see that the other side has pretty much completely emptied out. That's strange. Because of where the speeches are happening I decide to go see if 2 has a better view. On my way I notice that the crowd of people from the park are all marching towards the protest sight. I think "Hey, crowds of people generally walk towards interesting things." I merge in with them, since we're going the same way anyway. I look around as the mass of people, and as I get sucked into the middle I notice some things. Now we peer in on my inner-monologue:
"Man. Hungarians sure wear a lot of leather. It's freaking hot out they muse be miserable.
Ha, I'm totally right they do all look pretty angry
...
Jeez, that's some pretty angry metal music too.
...
...
Hey what's thOHMYGODIMSURROUNDEDBYNAZIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
That's right, I was smack in the middle of maybe 300-400 chanting, belligerent, and often drunken Nazis all trying to crowd into a very narrow street. I had unfortunately not put together the fact that that the protest zone was split into two with the fact that there were effectively two protests going on. But it was too late. I was crushed in the middle of the crowd now, and trying to get out would mean stepping on a lot of angry, steel-toed Nazi military boots. Nonetheless, I hesitant a little, trying to do a quick risk/benefit analysis, and as soon as I do I am immediately shoved and angrily yelled at by a man with many spikes in his face and and on his clothing. I quickly decide that my only option is forward.
So I'm stuck on the wrong side of the protest, surrounded by angry Nazis who have now started singing very angry sounding songs and who really look like they want to have a go at the counter-protesters, who are chanting back. I eventually, after several very tense minutes, manage to escape to the goodguy side of the protest and watch the rest of the happenings from there. Fortunately nothing much else happened and the Nazis dispersed. In my defense, the flag they were flying was not one I had ever seen before (see Árpád flag) and that same design was the prominent on leather-jackets, tattoos etc. I'm guessing that the swastika is illegal here like it is in other European countries, which is why they use this instead.
