These are the words of Lajos Lapid, public security chief of the Budapest Police, who was talking about a recent case where police moved to dispel a crowd following a match between Ujpest and Fehervar. They also forced press representatives to leave the scene. The policeman chose not to say that in such cases, citizens holding cameras are in danger not just from hooligans but from the police themselves. Budapest Police played their standard trump card when questioned were asked about the beating received by a photographer. The journalist, they said, had erred into an "operational area." This is a term recognised in military law, but not in police law, and the capital was not in a state of war when these events took place. Pictures of the event in any case suggest that there was no crowd surrounding photographers from Blikk and the Magyar Nemzet, and the roads surrounding the area seem to have been closed.

This is not Belarus, the democratic regime change is behind us: in countries such as ours, the interior ministry apologises for such unfortuante events, even before the public prosecutor launches his investigation. The police chief in charge at the time is thanked for his services and asked to leave. But Petretei, the minister in charge of the police said only: "Everyone is obliged to obey the police, even if they are behaving illegally or unprofessionally."

In the wake of the scandal, the police, helped by the National Alliance of Hungarian Journalists (MUOSZ), came up with a very marketable idea: reporters assigned to "acute situations" should wear a yellow jacket, to prevent the police officer in charge confusing them with less savoury elements. Let us ignore the minor point that in an open society, even MUOSZ does not have the civil right to accredit people who wish to photograph policemen in the course of their work. This constructive idea contains an ominous message: any peaceful citizen who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time is a fair target for police violence if he is not wearing a yellow jacket.

Members of the press have to be protected by virtue of what they do. The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union has thus called for journalists to enjoy heightened criminal protection, as do taxi drivers and postmen, so that their movements around legally closed areas should be regulated not by informal agreements but by clear rules. Accounts we have heard suggest that the two photographers were attacked after being told not to take photographs. It is a fundamental principle of a democratic state that the press should be able to report swiftly, accurately and reliably on matters of public importance. Public authorities that enjoy a monopoly of violence must carry out their work in the public eye. The ability of the press to freely exercise its constitutional role is a guarantor of the security of all of us.

ANDRÁS SCHIFFER