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Neil_Baumgardner

Saw this on the TankNet board:

Apparently the Hungarian Military History Institute and Museum had recently put this T-34 on display in downtown Budapest for the 50th anniversary of the 1956 uprising.... And some bright protesters got their hands on batteries and replaced the wiring... Mayhem ensues...

The last pic includes two cops climbing on the tank. Reminds me of the Simpsons episode (where my pic comes from):

"Wiggum: Shoot the tires out, Lou!
"Lou: UhÃ¢â‚¬Â¦it's a tank, chief!
"Wiggum: You know what? I'm getting real tired of your excuses!"

I've tried to put the pictures I have found in order... First one is of the tank on display, before it was seized...

www.mg.co.za/articlepa...eid=287493

english.mti.hu/default...words=tank

www.abc.net.au/news/ne...771780.htm

www.news.com.au/story/...01,00.html

www.telegraph.co.uk/ne...ungary.xml

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Hungarian protesters seize World War II tank
Gergely Szakacs | Budapest, Hungary
23 October 2006 06:33
Hungarian police fired rubber bullets and tear gas on Monday to disperse anti-government protesters marching on Parliament on the 50th anniversary of the country's uprising against Soviet rule.

Local news agency MTI said several people had been injured in the clashes in central Budapest.

As police pushed the crowd of about 1 000 away from the square outside Parliament, protesters seized a T-34 World War II tank, used as an exhibit to commemorate the Hungarian uprising, and drove it towards police lines, MTI said.

"The whole crowd started cheering. The police started firing tear gas, then the tank stopped," Reuters cameraman Fedja Grulovic said.

The anniversary of the anti-Soviet uprising has been marred by a month of protests following the admission by Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany in a leaked speech that he lied about the economy to win national elections in April.

Protesters seeking to march on Parliament square clashed with police after fighting earlier in the day led to 10 people arrested.

"They are shooting rubber bullets at the protesters now," a Reuters photographer said.

By 3pm GMT, police had pushed back protesters to Budapest's central square, Deak Square, and continued to fire tear gas, a witness said.

"Police are firing loads of teargas at about 1 000 protesters fighting them," a Reuters reporter said.

Some protesters, their faces hidden behind scarves, lobbed stones at the police, a witness said.

But officers managed to force the protesters towards a major rally being held by the main right-of-centre Fidesz opposition party, which wants Gyurcsany to quit.

Fidesz leader Viktor Orban urged protesters to refrain from violence but told the rally of tens of thousands of people that the nation was facing an "illegitimate" government.

The possibility of further clashes earlier prompted the government to again close the square outside Parliament, which had been due to host a public event celebrating the uprising at 5.30pm local time, and to ask journalists not to go there.

Even before Gyurcsany's leaked speech, many on the right questioned whether celebrations should be led by the Socialists, heirs of the communists whose rule was cemented for 33 more years after Soviet troops put down the uprising.

A government source said Gyurcsany would not attend the inauguration of a 1956 memorial this evening.

About 2 600 Hungarians died battling Soviet troops, more than 200 were executed for their role in the uprising and 200 000 fled the country.

Inside Parliament, the prime minister said Hungarians in 1956 had no choice but to rebel, but the country, which held its first free elections in 1990 and joined the European Union in 2004, was now a modern, democratic state.

"Despite the often justified disappointment and discontent, the majority of Hungarians believe that parliamentary democracy is the most suited to express people's will and to create law and give a programme to a free Hungary," he said. -- Reuters

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Tank theft during October 23 riots was pre-planned action

Budapest, October 24 (MTI) - Several circumstances show that the theft of a T-34 tank from an exhibition area near the City Hall in Budapest during the October 23 riots was pre-planned, the director of the Military History Institute and Museum said on Tuesday.

On Monday afternoon, the rioting protesters started up the tank on display as part of a 56 exhibition at the City Hall and drove it in the direction of a police cordon on Karoly Korut, but stopped when it ran out of petrol after around a 100 metres.

Jozsef Hollo said the tank had been filled with only a minimum amount of fuel when it was taken to the exhibition site but its electric wirings were removed as a means of precaution. The thieves replaced the wires and installed new batteries in the tank, he said.

According to witnesses, the tank was driven by an older person, who could have experience with such a tank in the past, considering that T-34s were withdrawn from service in the Hungarian army during the 1970s, Hollo said. Driving the tank away from the exhibition qualifies for theft considering that it was secured with several locks and the perpetrators had to saw these off to get into the vehicle, Hollo said. Since yesterday, the 6.6-metre tank has been returned to the exhibition park of the Miklos Zrinyi university of national defence.

Hollo noted that the same tank had been used in the film "Children of Glory," which premiered on Monday. The film tells the story of Hungary's heroic but failed revolution of 1956 in Budapest and a match between the Hungarian and the Soviet water polo teams at the Melbourne Olympics a few weeks later, where Hungary won in what has been described as the bloodiest water polo match in history.

JeffStringer · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jan 24, 2006 Posts: 637

Wow.

rynoki

HeHe.

Taranov

Grand Theft Auto: Budapest Laughing

BenjaminLiottel · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jul 07, 2006 Posts: 47

So, they get an old timer to hot-wire a T-34, saw through its shackles, and drive the beast around to make a grand statement - but forget to refuel it? You would think that refueling a T-34 would be the easiest part of stealing it.

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