The LMP party in Hungary is calling for a prosecutor's inquiry into the recent banning of pro-Tibet protests in Budapest. The Hungarian government acted against demonstrators during a visit by Wen Jiabao, the Chinese prime minister, on the 24th and 25th of July.According to a press release by Hajnalka Gatai and Dennis Barbion, Mr. Andras Schiffer, leader of the LMP party fraction, has declared that the banning violated the demonstrators' rights and was therefore illegal.
Hungarian police insulted the activists, forbade demonstration, and, in an effort to prevent demonstration, required Tibetan refugees to report to the immigration office without reason on the day of Wen Jiabo's visit.
Police claimed that the demonstration was banned to prevent traffic problems and to ensure security and the smooth transport of the Chinese delegation. Later in Parliament, however, Prime Minister Mr. Viktor Orban alluded to Hungary's foreign policy interests as the reason. Schiffer has claimed that banning the protests because of foreign policy interests is absolutely illegal.
The LMP has criticized the Fidesz party, to which Prime Minister Orban belongs, for hypocritically doing the same as previous socialist governments whom they criticize. The Medgyessy and Gyurcsány governments, for example, have been widely spoken against by the Fidesz party for preventing demonstrations.
Schiffer published that on the 24th and 25th of July, during Wen Jiabao's visit, "the policy acted against persons who were expressing their own opinion with Tibet flags and criticizing the policy of the People's Republic of China."
