© Szegő Péter

hvg.hu's correspondent was photographing a statue of Albert Wass which had been daubed in red paint when someone told him that the Dezso Szabo statue on the other side of Szabadsag ter had also been defaced.

A third person arrived, angrily asking the second: "What are you doing helping the enemy?"

Lorant Hegedus, a protestant priest, led a service in the Homecoming Church at 9am. It's fair to point out that Hegedus did not make any anti-semitic remarks during his impassioned speech - although many of his congregants were less restrained.

He decried godlessness, globalisation, commercial television, the government and - less vehemently - the parliamentary opposition. The bishop, who is expecting his 12th grandchild, emphasised the importance of family. He reminded the Hungarian nation of its "special role." " If the younger generations commit themselves to raising three or four children, then we won't dwindle - we will continue to be the biggest nation of the Carpathian basin. Life is about more than quality of life, the body about more than dress sense. We shouldn't stick to one or two children out of concern for our quality of life. After the Tatars came, there were 1.1m Hungarians. Nobody had a washing machine, a western car, nor indeed an eastern one. There were no colour televisions. But we still managed to grow to 15m Hungarians."

© Stiller Ákos

It was striking that the church, which houses much of Hegedus's family, also made space for the headquarters of Maria Radio. We had been under the impression that the cult of Mary was a sin against the Almighty for most protestants - but this would appear not to be the case.

hvg.hu asked one of the cat-calling demonstrators why he was whistling. "To get rid of Ferenc Gyurcsany," he replied. Asked how whistling furthered this goal, he replied: "I have a right to whistle."

At one point, water was poured from the window of an apartment building onto the protesters below. This was met by calls of: "Dirty Jews!" Other slogans included: "Traitors," "You fucked up!", "To arms!", "2006-56," "Clear off Gyurcsany!"

None of the other speakers were as entertaining as Hegedus. Lorant Hegedus Jr, his son, told a gathering on Fovam ter, that Ferenc Gyurcsany, the prime minister, was a "sociopathic animal." He also criticised "certain people in the Church" who have spoken out against the Magyar Garda.

"Wild tribal chauvinism is, with international support, will lead to an ethnic explosion. This is not paranoia or a persecution complex, but what Hungarians have seen with their own eyes." (ie. Jews are paying gypsies to annihilate Hungarians - PSz). Hegedus said he and his audience were the "true defenders of the values of the republic."

Later speeches were of a standard that Katalin Szili could have outshone intellectually and displayed an oratorical flair that Peter Medgyessy could have matched, even if he had just been roused from sleep. There were oaths, declarations of independence, constitutional conventions, national resistance. One speaker suggested Hungarians should create a Slavic language that would allow us to understand what people were saying, whether in Slovakia or in Romania (sic).

© Stiller Ákos

At the end of the event, Gallik Galfalvy, the compere, thanked the "Royal Hungarian Police" for providing security.

When hvg.hu reached the Jobbik rally, a woman from the Magyar Garda was demanding a bicameral parliament, the abolition of party lists and an end to the "show trial" running against the Magyar Garda.

Istvan Dosa, the captain of the Magyar Garda, attacked the powers that "call themselves liberal and left-wing." Dosa called for a Hungarian revolution that would battle for souls. He said Hungary was a dictatorship of the media. "Rakosi's and Kadar's successors are once again betraying the country," he said.

Péter Szegő