On that day, a Friday, the Rev. Laszlo Tokes preached a sermon to his ethnic Hungarian congregation denouncing the despot. Police came to arrest Tokes, and crowds of ethnic Hungarians, joined by Romanians, took to the streets in protest. On Dec. 17, the security police and regular army troops fired into the huge crowd gathered in Victory Square and elsewhere, even on the cathedral steps. By Dec. 20 the army had revolted, and demonstrations were spreading to Bucharest and other Romanian cities. A man hurries past with a loaf of unwrapped bread pressed beneath his arm.
Bicyclists fly by.
All flights to Budapest from Los Angeles involve a change of planes. The Hotel Central, just off Piata Victoriei, at 6 St. Lenau, tel. You will not be charged to look for stories, only to retrieve one.