50th aniversary of the 56 relevlotion




today hungary celebrated the 50th aniversary of the 56 revelotion against the occuping communists, it was a day for the people to celerate the people revlution, sadly the day was marred by every celebration being closed to the public and demonstraions which turned into riots, we headed into the city with friends thinking we would enjoy some hungarian festivites and see the celebrations, normally national holidays are filled with authentic hungarian food, music and many markets, but we came to realize tensions in the city would rule the day. We walked around the streets going from event to event only to realize they were for diplomats only and closed to the people, kinda ironic i must say, a day to celebrate the peoples revolution completely closed to the people. Close to the end of the day upon trying to get some coffee and a bathroom stop at a local Mcdonalds of all places we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of the action. The girls were in Mcdonalds while I (kyle) and a friend were watching the crowds gather, when we saw them carrying large items towards the police line we said to ourselves something may be happening, the crowd seemed tense but not too unruly, but suddenly we saw the police water cannons spraying the crowds and the next thing we know the tear gas cans started to fly, for those of you who are now worried, don't be, because we quickly retreated away from the crowds. It was so amazing to us how quickly things changed, becuase when we first standing there we commented on the amount of people but it really didn't seem to be a very aggressive crowd. It was kinda like a bee hive that got poked by broom or something because once that first assualt was made by the police things turned ugly.
The picture below is off the square just before the tear gas started to fly and the tank you see in the first picture we looked at earlier in the day. We found out later that it was actually started up by the rioters and driven towards the police line, aparently all that was done to disarm it was take the battery out. It was stopped before doing any damage and the rest of the night was spent pushing the crowds back and attempting to disperse the people.

The tear gas we encountered was the first that day and I think it took many by suprise as many people were like us just standing around trying to see what was going on and not knowing the seriousness of it all.

It is now 11pm and the riots are still going, probably will go all night. We just wanted to give a update and let everyone now we are now home safe, since many of you know we were headed into the city today and we didn't want anyone to freak out. So there is a little update on hungary and reminder to keep hungary and the people of hungary in your prayers, that peace would prevail and tensions settle and that God would use this time to speak to the hearts of hungarians. Many of the rioters have no goal other than just to disturb the peace and in the meantime many innocent people are being hurt along with police who are being forced onto the front lines, it really has been a sad day for hungary and has proven nothing other than giving the country a black eye in the world press. The 56 revloution was about a nation forming together to create change but today seems like it has been about trying to look good to the world/international diplomats and on the other hand a excuse to cause trouble, all in all it can be described as a big mess.