Riot police in Budapest, October 24, 2006.

Security forces began using tear gas grenades, water cannons and rubber bullets against the demonstrators.

The celebration of 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian uprising against Soviet regime have evolved in protests against the ruling government in Hungary as thousands of protestors battled with police.

On Oct. 23, in the evening, security forces began using tear gas grenades, water cannons and rubber bullets against the demonstrators, who numbered in excess of 100,000 in front of Hungarian parliament in Budapest.

Hungary became part of the Soviet area of influence and was appropriated into a communist state following a short period of democracy in 1946-1947.

After 1948, Communist leader Mátyás Rákosi established a Stalinist rule in Hungary, which was hardly bearable for the war-torn country.

Originally published on hungaria.org’s “Revolution ’06” commemoration pages, October 2006. Recovered from archive.